KANGKONG (IPOMOEA AQUATICA): A WRIGGLER KILLER

An investigatory project presented to Science and Technology Department Palawan National School

By: Cacal, Jabez L. Flores, Jewel Darlene M. Subosa, Lorraine L.

JUNE AUGUST 2011

INTRODUCTION Background of the Study In this season, we all know that there are many cases of diseases such as malaria. Approximately 250 million people are affected by malaria at any one time. And 2-4 million of them die each year. It kills most children under 5 years old who contract it (Peter Raven & George Johnson, 1988). Another disease is the very common that is dengue. In Manila, at least 23 people, mostly children have died of mosquito-borne dengue fever in the Philippines since the start of year 2010 (United Press International, 2010). These such diseases are caused by mosquitoes which usually live at algae-rich waters such as abandoned ponds, old tires, flower vases and other stuffs that has the ability to collect rainwater. When we refer to the life cycle of mosquitoes, mosquito larvaes habitat are in stagnant and steady water and they are in cluster thus, gives idea to the researchers that they can be easily exterminated when grouped. By researching what can kill mosquito larvae that is natural, economic and efficient, the researchers found that Ipomoea aquatica or locally called kangkong has properties that can kill mosquito larvae. However, there have been no reports regarding the plants mosquito larvicidal properties (Mosquito Larvicidal Properties of Essential Oil of an Indigenous Plant, Ipomoea cairica Linn). Statement of the Problem This study seeks to answer the following:

Can Ipomoea aquatica really decreases the number of mosquito larvae? How much concentration is needed to kill mosquito larvae in a 1-liter stagnant water?

Significance of the Study This study aims to help the following: People It can help people by preventing developed moquitoes to harm them. It also adds knowledge to people that Ipomoea aquatica is an efficient mosquito larvae killer. Environment It can help by maintaining the surroundings cleanliness. Some Ipomoea aquatica are sometimes considered as trash because they are usually found at roadsides and watery lands. This also prevents mosquitoes to spread harm. Education It can help people to know the cheaper and effective way to solve their mosquito problems. It also helps our educators to teach their students that Ipomoea aquatica or kangkong is an effective plant that decreases the number of mosquito larvae in our community.

Scope and Limitation This study limits on the effect of Ipomoea aquatica extract to kill mosquito larvae with its stem and extracting it by grinding it in a mortar and pestle and straining it to remove solid particles.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES LITERATURE MOSQUITO Mosquitoes or locally called lamok is a common insect under the Phylum Arthropoda and Class Insecta. A large number of species of mosquitoes surround the world. Mosquitoes undergo on life stages: egg, pupa, larva, and adult. They spend most of their lives in water. Mosquitoes feed on algae that is abundant in steady water such as abandoned ponds, in old tires and flower vases. People sometimes misinterpret that all mosquitoes sucks blood. Not all mosquitoes sucks blood. Only female mosquitoes do to develop fertile eggs (Elizabeth Heubeck, 2011). Mosquitoes also have preferables in where they will suck blood. Othery researches tells that 1 out of 10 people os a preferable of mosquitoes. Cholesterol attracts mosquitoes. The more cholesterol that surfaces on your skin, you are more prone to mosquitoes. Other factors that also attracts mosquitoes are carbon dioxide, heat and movement. Large people exhale more carbon dioxide that smaller ones. Pregnant women are also prone because they exhale more carbon dioxide. Other references also states that women are more prone to mosquito bites due to their attraction to the scent of estroge, that is a human female reproductive hormone (Heubeck, 2011).
ALGAE AND BACTERIA

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length.

They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many distinct organs found in land plants. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds. Though the prokaryotic cyanobacteria (commonly referred to as blue-green algae) were traditionally included as "algae" in older textbooks, many modern sources regard this as outdated as they are now considered to be bacteria. The term algae is now restricted to eukaryotic organisms. All true algae therefore have a nucleus enclosed within a membrane and plastids bound in one or more membranes. Algae constitute a

paraphyletic and polyphyletic group, as they do not include all the descendants of the last universal ancestor nor do they all descend from a common algal ancestor, although their plastids seem to have a single origin. Diatoms are also examples of algae. Algae are found in the fossil record dating back to approximately 3 billion years in the Precambrian. They exhibit a wide range of reproductive strategies, from simple, asexual cell division to complex forms of sexual reproduction. Algae lack the various structures that characterize land plants, such as phyllids (leaves) and rhizoids in nonvascular plants, or leaves, roots, and other organs that are found intracheophytes (vascular plants). Many are photoautotrophic, although some groups contain members that are mixotrophic, deriving energy both from photosynthesis and uptake of organic carbon either by osmotrophy, myzotrophy, or phagotrophy. Some unicellular species rely entirely on external energy sources and have limited or no photosynthetic apparatus.

Algae are prominent in bodies of water, common in terrestrial environments and are found in unusual environments, such as on snow and on ice. Seaweeds grow mostly in shallow marine waters, under 100 metres (330 ft); however some have been recorded to a depth of 360 metres (1,180 ft). The various sorts of algae play significant roles in aquatic ecology. Microscopic forms that live suspended in the water column (phytoplankton) provide the food base for most marine food chains. In very high densities (algal blooms) these algae may discolor the water and outcompete, poison, or asphyxiate other life forms. Algae are variously sensitive to different factors, which has made them useful as biological indicators in the Ballantine Scale and its modification. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae) Bacteria Typically a few micrometers in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals. Bacteria are ubiquitous in every habitat on Earth, growing in soil, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, water, and deep in the Earth's crust, as well as in organic matter and the live bodies of plants and animals. There are typically 40 million bacterial cells in a gram of soil and a million bacterial cells in a milliliter of fresh water; in all, there are approximately five nonillion (51030) bacteria on Earth, forming a biomass on Earth, which exceeds that of all plants and animals. Bacteria are vital in recycling nutrients, with many steps in nutrient cycles depending on these organisms, such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere and putrefaction. However, most bacteria have not been characterized, and only about half of the phyla of bacteria have species that can be grown in the laboratory. The study of bacteria is known as bacteriology, a branch of microbiology.

There are approximately ten times as many bacterial cells in the human flora as there are human cells in the body, with large numbers of bacteria on the skin and as gut flora. The vast majority of the bacteria in the body are rendered harmless by the protective effects of the immune system, and a few are beneficial. However, a few species of bacteria are pathogenic and cause infectious diseases, including cholera, syphilis, anthrax, leprosy

and bubonic plague. The most common fatal bacterial diseases are respiratory infections, with tuberculosis alone killing about 2 million people a year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. In developed countries, antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections and in agriculture, so antibiotic resistance is becoming common. In industry, bacteria are important in sewage treatment, the production of cheese and yogurt through fermentation, as well as in biotechnology, and the manufacture of antibiotics and other chemicals.
Once regarded as plants constituting the Class Schizomycetes, bacteria are now classified as prokaryotes. Unlike cells of animals and other eukaryotes, bacterial cells do not contain a nucleus and rarely harbor membrane-bound organelles. Although the term bacteria traditionally included all prokaryotes, the scientific classification changed after the discovery in the 1990s that prokaryotes consist of two very different groups of organisms that evolved independently from an ancient common ancestor. These evolutionary domains are called Bacteria and Archaea. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria) DISEASES Mosquito borne diseases are prevalent in more than 100 countries, infecting 300-500 million people and causing about 1 million deaths every year. In India, more than 40 million people suffer from mosquito diseases annually. There are a number of diseases borne by mosquitoes. They are malaria, filaria, dengue.The mosquito borne diseases are no more downmarket diseases, since you find them in

boardroom, in the lifts, in the cars, in the theatres, in the golf clubs, etc. However it is also not to be forgotten that mosquitoes and mosquito borne diseases are the result of low hygiene and sanitation in the downmarket areas and poor insect control in the upmarket areas. http://www.medindia.net/articles/mosquitodiseases.asp, MALARIA Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans caused by eukaryotic protists. It is

widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Americas. Malaria is prevalent in these regions because of the significant amounts of rainfall and consistent high temperatures; warm, consistent temperatures and high humidity provide mosquitoes with the environment needed for continuous breeding.The disease results from the multiplication of malaria parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases progressing to coma, and death.

Each year, there are more than 225 million cases of malaria killing around 781,000 people each year according to the World Health Organisation's 2010 World Malaria Report 2.23% of deaths worldwide. The majority of deaths are of young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Ninety percent of malaria-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, and can indeed be a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic development

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria.

DENGUE

Dengue is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with any one of the four dengue viruses. It occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. Symptoms appear 314 days after the infective bite. Dengue fever is a febrile illness that affects infants, young children and adults.

Symptoms range from a mild fever, to incapacitating high fever, with severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, and rash. There are no specific antiviral medicines for dengue. It is important to maintain hydration. Use of acetylsalicylic acid (e.g. aspirin) and non steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (e.g. Ibuprofen) is not recommended.

Dengue haemorrhagic fever (fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, bleeding) is a potentially lethal complication, affecting mainly children. Early clinical diagnosis and careful clinical management by experienced physicians and nurses increase survival of patients.

http://www.who.int/topics/dengue/en/

Filaria

Filariasis or Filaria is caused by the bite of an infected mosquito belonging to the species called Culex.The adult worms live in the lymphatic vessels and the females produce microfilariae which at night circulate in the blood. The mosquitoes on biting the infected individuals carry the microfilariae which develop into adult worms. If the same mosquito bites a healthy person, the worms are transmitted to him and the infection is spread.

http://www.free-herbal-medicines.com/diseases/filaria.html

Filariasis is a disease group affecting humans and animals caused by nematode parasites of the order Filariidae, commonly called filariae. Filarial parasites may be classified according to the habitat of the adult worms in the vertebral host. Of the hundreds of described filarial parasites, only 8 species cause

natural infections in humans. The parasites of the cutaneous and lymphatic groups are the most clinically significant. Other species of filariae may cause incomplete infections because they are unable to reach adult maturity in human hosts and therefore cannot produce microfilaria (eg, Dirofilaria immitis [dog heartworm], Dirofilaria [Nochtiella] repens, and Dirofilaria tenuis [raccoon heartworm]). Because the mosquito vector is inefficient, a relatively prolonged stay in an endemic area is usually required to acquire the infection. Disorganized urbanization is adding to the vector population and hence to the increased incidence and prevalence of such diseases in developing countries. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/217776-overview

YELLOW FEVER

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease.[1] The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family.The yellow fever virus is transmitted by the bite of female mosquitoes (the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, and other species) and is found in tropical and subtropical areas in South America and Africa, but not in Asia.[2] The only known hosts of the virus are primates and several species of mosquito.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_fever

STUDIES The following are few of the studies related to the study of the researchers. Mosquito larvicidal properties of essential oil of an indigenous plant, Ipomoea cairica Li The use of Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. (Myrtaceae) oil (leaf extract) as a natural larvici

Laboratory studies on mosquito larvicidal efficacy of aqueous & hexane extracts of dried fruit of Solanum nigrum Linn.

Development of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana formulations for control of malaria mosquito larvae.

METHODOLOGY Materials The researchers used a dipper and two clean jars to catch mosquito larvae. The researchers also used 233.1 grams of kangkong, beaker, clean cloth and a stone for the extracting process. General Procedure To catch mosquito larvae, the researchers used a dipper. The researchers placed the caught larvae into two clean jars. On the extraction process, the researchers washed 233.1 grams of kangkong and chopped them finely. Put the chopped kangkong in the clean cloth and pound it in a mortar and pestle. They squeezed the cloth with the chopped kangkong to produce the extract. They put the extract in a clean container.