In a groundbreaking study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, scientists from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) have found a simple and effective solution in the battle against malaria - soap. The researchers have discovered that adding small quantities of liquid soap to certain classes of pesticides can enhance their potency by more than 10-fold.

Lead author Dr. Colince Kamdem, an assistant professor in UTEP's Department of Biological Sciences, emphasizes the urgency of finding alternative compounds as malaria-carrying mosquitoes have developed strong resistance to current insecticides. Kamdem states, "It's a race now to develop alternative compounds with new modes of action."

Through laboratory tests and field trials, the team identified neonicotinoids as a promising insecticide class to combat mosquito populations resistant to existing chemicals. However, these neonicotinoids alone do not effectively eliminate certain mosquito species. Research Assistant Professor Dr. Caroline Fouet, the study's second author, highlights soap as the solution to enhancing neonicotinoids' effectiveness.

Malaria, a devastating mosquito-borne disease prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America, causes symptoms such as fever, fatigue, headaches, and chills, and has claimed numerous lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2020 alone, an estimated 241 million malaria cases occured worldwide, leading to 627,000 deaths.

Dr. Kamdem initially discovered soap's potential while working at Cameroon's Center for Research in Infectious Diseases (CRID) during routine insecticide testing. Current protocols from the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend the addition of seed oil-based products to insecticide concoctions to test mosquitoes' susceptibility to insecticides. However, Kamdem observed a significant increase in mosquito mortality when a compound similar to kitchen soap was added.

The team's hunch proved to be correct. In all tested cases, the introduction of soap remarkably enhanced the potency of the insecticides, as outlined in their study. "All three brands of soap increase mortality from 30 percent to 100 percent compared to when the insecticides were used on their own," shared Ashu Fred, the study's first author and a Ph.D. student at Cameroon's University of Yaoundé 1.

Testing the addition of soap to another class of insecticides called pyrethroids did not yield the same benefits. Further research is needed to determine the optimal amount of soap required to enhance insecticide effectiveness.

Dr. Kamdem expressed the team's aim to develop a soap-insecticide formulation that can be safely used indoors in Africa, particularly on mosquito nets. While challenges exist, the potential for such a formulation is both promising and exciting.

The researchers' findings indicate that a simple household product like soap may hold the key to overcoming resistance in malaria-carrying mosquitoes. As efforts intensify in the global fight against malaria, this breakthrough discovery offers renewed hope in the pursuit of more effective control strategies.

The study, titled "Vegetable oil-based surfactants are adjuvants that enhance the efficacy of neonicotinoid insecticides and can bias susceptibility testing in adult mosquitoes," was conducted by Colince Kamdem, Caroline Fouet, and Ashu Fred, and was published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases in 2023. The research was carried out at The University of Texas at El Paso and Cameroon's Center for Research in Infectious Diseases.