HINTERLAND communities are being targeted for training in the use of coconuts as a new weapon against malaria, beginning within a matter of weeks, an official source said yesterday.
Coconut water has been found to be a perfect environment for growing bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), a microorganism which kills the anopheles larvae, but does not harm other living things or the environment.
The training in the production of Bti in coconuts and its use is to be launched by the Guyana Environmental Management and Capacity Development Mining Assistance Programme (GENCAPD) in collaboration with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Ministry of Health, the source said.
Secondary school children in hinterland communities are among those targeted for training, and other  sources have said that the intervention is timely, given the apparent resurgence of  malaria, which amounts to a whopping 4,000 cases so far this year.
GENCAPD is  a mining assistance programme from the Government of Canada, and  has been providing demonstration projects on environmentally-friendly mining in the gold and diamond mining sector, such as the rehabilitation and revegetation  of mined-out  sites,
recycling of water ponds, and dry mining services among others.
The Project is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA) and managed by the Canadian Centre for Minerals and Energy Technology (CANMET), a division of Natural Resources Canada.
CANMET Official and Head of GENCAPD,  Mr. Richard Couture said that the Bti programme is a sub-component of the Canadian assistance Project which addresses health issues in the mining sector, and is aimed at reducing  the occurrence of malaria here.
Couture said that the green light for use of Bti has been given by the government through  the Institutional Review Board of the Ministry of Health, headed by Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, Chief Medical Officer (CMO).
Given this development, the next step is the employment of a suitably qualified person to head the Bti programme. He said that GENCAPD has identified renowned Peruvian microbiologist, Dr. Palmira Ventosilla of the Institute of Tropical Medicine at  Cayetano Heredia University of Lima, Peru as a suitable candidate.
Dr. Ventosilla is credited with developing Bti with the use of coconuts after a series of experiments in her native Peru. Her aim on acceptance of her contract to work in Guyana will be to transfer a tested set of techniques for the control of local vectors of malaria, using the Bti.
Ventosilla recently explained that the Bti technology is fairly simple. A small quantity of Bti is introduced into the coconut through a hole that is then plugged with cotton and sealed with candle wax. The hard shell of the coconut protects the incubating bacillus, and the milk inside contains amino acids and carbohydrates necessary for its reproduction.
After two or three days of fermentation, the coconuts are taken to the swamps, where the mosquitoes live, the plugs are removed, and the coconuts are thrown into the stagnant pools of water. The contents of one coconut kill mosquito larvae within one hundred square feet. Two or three coconuts are enough to cover a typical pond.
Experiments have shown that this quantity kills all the larvae contained in the marshy pond, and that it  keeps working for 45 days. Reports indicate that the Bti programme was tested  in malaria endemic areas in Peru and led to significant reduction in the disease among the populations who participated in the exercise.
The programme in Guyana is to be delivered in a self-sustained fashion through direct community participation, and those targeted include secondary school children.
Mahdia is one of the communities identified, and so are the students of the secondary school there.
Students and participants will learn about the lifecycle of the anopheles mosquito, the dynamics of malaria transmission, and control of malaria, and are expected to serve as the bridge between researchers and community.
Couture said that the Bti programme will be complementary to other elements of malaria vector control, such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets, house screens, drugs and eliminating waste water.
He said that on Ventosila’s arrival, communities other than those targeted, possibly some on the coast, may be added to the list.

A BTI Chronology

•    1976. Bti is discovered by Israeli scientists when they notice a
large number of dead mosquito larvae in certain ponds. On analysis of
the pond water, they isolate the Bti spore.
•    Late 1980s. It is noted at several international meetings that the
malaria situation is getting worse.
•    1988. The Peruvian research team tries to multiply the Bti spore by
fermenting it with such locally grown produce as bananas and
pineapples. The idea came from the native practice of making a
fermented drink from the yucca plant. Coconuts prove to be the best
option.
•    1992. Recognizing the need for a renewed attack on malaria, 102
member states of the World Health Organization adopt a Global Malaria
Control Strategy. The strategy acknowledges the importance of
community partnerships in fighting the disease.
•    1993 to date. Using coconuts as incubators,  communities in
northern Peru produce Bti for the first time to apply to local larvae
breeding    grounds.