ABSTRACT
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect more than 1 billion people (one-sixth of the world’s population) in underdeveloped countries. Malaria and lymphatic filariasis (LF) are the two most common and identifiable mosquito-borne parasitic diseases. Malaria is believed to be responsible for approximately 1 million deaths per year, particularly among children under 5 years of age and pregnant women. Malaria afflicts 36% of the world’s population living in 107 countries and territories situated in the tropical and subtropical regions. In the Southeast Asian Region, India alone contributes about 70% of the total cases of malaria and more people risk developing malaria. India is endemic for major vector-borne diseases (VBD), namely, malaria, dengue, chikungunya, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis (JE), and visceral leishmaniasis. Mosquito vectors transmit malaria, filariasis, and dengue in the plains of rural and urban areas of India. Controlling blood-sucking parasites is a great challenge due to large-scale mortality and morbidity caused by them worldwide. Currently, the use of biological control methods is considered as a novel approach for controlling blood-sucking parasites. Microbial control of blood-feeding parasite populations are more effective over conventional chemical control methods because many are host specific and safe for nontarget organisms. Microbial control methods, including marine actinomycetes and its secondary metabolites, have proved to be very effective in inducing mortality to blood-sucking parasites. Many compounds derived from marine actinomycetes have been reported to exhibit 100% larval mortality, even at 500 ppm concentration. Alternatively, nanoparticles biosynthesized from actinomycetes and its metabolites have been shown to possess potential larvicidal activity. Actinobacterial compounds and actinomycetes-derived nanoparticles could be useful for selecting newer, more selective and specific, biodegradable, and natural larvicidal agents against mosquito vectors.
