Marseille soap, an unexpected ally against malaria?

2023-11-27 06:30:00

619,000. This is the number of deaths caused by malaria in 2021 according to the World Health Organization. If the number of cases recorded (247 million that same year) is decreasing thanks to insecticides, it is better not to relax efforts, because the mosquitoes, which transmit this potentially fatal disease, are starting to develop resistance to these products. To counter this, scientists from the University of Texas at El Paso (United States) had the idea of adding to mosquito repellents a product that everyone has at home… soap!

According to researchers, neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides banned in France since January 2023 due to their catastrophic effects on biodiversity, would constitute a “promising alternative” against resistant mosquitoes. Provided that a substance increases their effectiveness. This is where soap comes in and more particularly that of Maître Savon de Marseille, Carolin black soap and that of La Perdrix, three affordable and widespread brands on the African continent, where 95% of cases of malaria were recorded in 2021 .

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Increased mosquito mortality from 30 to 100%

These products have the particularity of containing linseed oil, a compound which increases mosquito mortality when combined with an insecticide. As part of their study, the scientific team added these soaps to four different neonicotinoids: acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. For her, the results are clear.

“The three brands of soap increase mortality by 30 to 100% compared to insecticides used alone,” explained Ashu Fred, lead author of the study and doctoral student at the Cameroonian University of Yaoundé (Cameroon). On the other hand, when added to pyrethroids, another type of insecticide, soaps did not increase their effectiveness. From now on, it will be necessary to determine the ideal quantity of soap to use in insecticides in order to be able to develop effective, accessible formulations with less danger for humans. The mosquitoes are getting ready to (literally) take a beating!