The Government College University (GCU) Lahore Zoology Department has recommended biological control of dengue, saying that fumigation and sprays can be used as emergency measures but they are not the permanent solutions. "Mosquitoes after sometime develop resistance against the chemicals used in fumigation and sprays," said Zoology Department Chairperson Professor Dr Nusrat Jahan, while addressing the university's faculty members on "prevention and control of dengue fever".
GCU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Khaleeq-ur-Rahman was also present on the occasion. The GCU chief zoologist said that biological control or "bio control" is the use of natural enemies to manage mosquito populations with a minimum risk to humans, wildlife and the environment. "The use of biological agents includes predatory insects and other invertebrates, such as copepods, parasitic nematodes, larvivorous fish, and microbial entomopathogens including Bacillus thuringiensis. The different formulations of these biological insecticides are commercially available and due to their environmental safety and specificity to nematoceran Diptera (including mosquitoes) have become mosquito control agents of choice almost throughout the world," Professor Dr Nusrat Jahan added. The GCU chief zoologist said that after the first outbreak, a research was started in GCU using many biological control agents and results were evaluated on the base of lethal concentrations, percentage larval moralities and pupae/adult emergence both in laboratory and field bioassays.
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