The biological control of disease vectors

Vector-borne diseases are common in nature and can have a large impact on humans, livestock and crops. Biological control of vectors using natural enemies or competitors can reduce vector density and hence disease transmission. However, the indirect interactions inherent in host–vector disease systems make it difficult to use traditional pest control theory to guide biological control of disease vectors. This necessitates a conceptual framework that explicitly considers a range of indirect interactions between the host–vector disease system and the vector's biological control agent. Here we conduct a comparative analysis of the efficacy of different types of biological control agents in controlling vector-borne diseases. We report three key findings. First, highly efficient predators and parasitoids of the vector prove to be effective biological control agents, but highly virulent pathogens of the vector also require a high transmission rate to be effective. Second, biocontrol agents can successfully reduce long-term host disease incidence even though they may fail to reduce long-term vector densities. Third, inundating a host–vector disease system with a natural enemy of the vector has little or no effect on reducing disease incidence, but inundating the system with a competitor of the vector has a large effect on reducing disease incidence. The comparative framework yields predictions that are useful in developing biological control strategies for vector-borne diseases. We discuss how these predictions can inform ongoing biological control efforts for host–vector disease systems.

► We compare how different vector biological control agents can reduce infections.
► In general, parasitoids with high attack rates can suppress disease incidence.
► Virulent pathogen biocontrol agents require a high transmission rate to be effective.
► Disease incidence can be reduced permanently even if vector populations recover.
► Inundating the system with a large number of competitors can reduce disease incidence.