Gil Germain Padonou and other researchers at the Center de Recherche Entomologique de Cotonou in Benin tested another insecticide. This one is called bendiocarb. They tested it with indoor spraying at sites throughout Benin.

There were fewer mosquito bites in homes sprayed with bendiocarb. More importantly, none of the three hundred fifty-thousand people who lived there got malaria-infected mosquito bites during the test.

Peter Hotez heads the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, which published the research.

PETER HOTEZ: "And this is what this bendiocarb is all about, showing that it’s efficacious -- at least in this setting in Benin, in a real, live field setting. So it provides a potentially good alternative where there's been high development of resistance to pyrethroids."

Dr. Hotez says the effectiveness in the test does not mean all malaria programs should use bendiocarb, or that indoor spraying should be the only method used.

PETER HOTEZ: "When we think about a large-scale goal to take on malaria, it’s not an either/or situation. We’re going to have to throw multiple things out there in order to see what the optimal combination is to achieve control."

Bendiocarb is widely used against a number of different insects. The insecticide is considered relatively safe when used as directed. It has not been shown to cause cancer, and it passes quickly out of the bodies of humans and other mammals.