Abstract
Mosquitoes act as vectors for several deadly diseases that have devastating effect on millions of people throughout the world. Controlling the spread of these mosquito vectors is a challenging task. Here, we propose a mangrove-mediated production of AgNPs from cheap aqueous extracts of Heritiera fomes from the Sundarbans UNESCO World Heritage Site against mosquito vectors and bacterial pathogen. The bio-fabricated AgNPs were analyzed using UV-vis spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The fabricated Ag nanocomposites were crystalline and spherical shaped. Our experimental results indicated that minimal doses of H. fomes extract and H. fomes-AgNPs exhibited excellent toxicity against Anopheles stephensi as well as the Aedes aegypti with the LC50 of AgNPs ranging from 7.44 ppm (I instar) to 15.61 ppm (pupae) for A. stephensi and 8.39 ppm (I instar) to 17.66 ppm for A. aegypti. In antibacterial assays, then mangrove fabricated-AgNPs also highly inhibited the growth of B. subtilis, K. pneumoniae, and S. typhi in low doses. Overall, this study highlighted that H. fomes extracts and H. fomes-mediated Ag nanomaterials could be potentially applied for dengue, Zika and malaria vector control operations.