Taking a bite out of Lyme disease.
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Animals↗
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Results for “INSECT BITES AND STINGS”
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Sunscreens and insect repellents.
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Animals↗
Herd immunity to filarial infection is a function of vector biting rate.
Despite the existence of an impressive body of work on human immune responses against filarial infections, the occurrence of a protective response to infection remains unclear. Here, we use a combined modelling and comparative data analysis framework to address this issue for human infections with the filarial parasite, Wuchereria bancrofti. By analogy with previous work, the analysis involves the comparison of observed field patterns of infection with epidemiological patterns predicted by a mathematical model of parasite immunity. Unlike most other human helminths, which are transmitted by ingestion or dermal penetration, exposure to infection with lymphatic filariasis can be measured explicitly in terms of vector mosquito biting rates, thereby also allowing, probably for the first time, examination of the suggested role of exposure in generating herd immunity to macroparasites. Observed field patterns in this study were derived from 19 different published studies, which gave parallel estimates of community exposure rates and the corresponding age--prevalence patterns of infection, while predictions of the epidemiological impact of herd immunity were obtained using a catalytic model framework. The results provide the first conclusive evidence to date that variations in the observed age--prevalence patterns of infection in filariasis can be effectively explained by the occurrence of an exposure-driven acquisition of herd immunity. We discuss this result in terms of implications for the new World Health Organization-led initiative for the global control of this parasitic disease.
Animals↗
Progress in controlling the reinvasion of windborne vectors into the western area of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa.
Since vector control began in 1975, waves of Simulium sirbanum and S. damnosum s.str., the principal vectors of severe blinding onchocerciasis in the West African savannas, have reinvaded treated rivers inside the original boundaries of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa. Larviciding of potential source breeding sites has shown that these 'savanna' species are capable of travelling and carrying Onchocerca infection for at least 500 km northeastwards with the monsoon winds in the early rainy season. Vector control has, therefore, been extended progressively westwards. In 1984 the Programme embarked on a major western extension into Guinea, Sierra Leone, western Mali, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. The transmission resulting from the reinvasion of northern Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso has been reduced by over 95%, but eastern Mali has proved more difficult to protect because of sources in both Guinea and Sierra Leone. Rivers in Sierra Leone were treated for the first time in 1989 and biting and transmission rates in Sierra Leone and Guinea fell by over 90%. Because of treatment problems in some complex rapids and mountainous areas, flies still reinvaded Mali, though biting rates were approximately 70% lower than those recorded before anti-reinvasion treatments started. It was concluded that transmission in eastern Mali has now been reduced to the levels required to control onchocerciasis.
Africa, Western↗
Correlation between mosquito repellent protection time and insensible water loss from the skin.
Insensible water loss and mosquito repellent protection time have been found to be relatively characteristic of any given individual. In a population having a biologic distribution of repellent protection period against mosquitoes, an inverse linear correlation was observed between repellent duration and insensible water loss. Doubling of insensible water loss was associated with a 20% decrease in repellent duration. Repellent penetration or evaporation but not attractiveness to mosquitoes are explanations for the observed relationship.
Adult↗
Exposure of sheep to mosquito bites: possible consequences for the transmission risk of Rift Valley Fever in Senegal.
Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a growing health problem in West Africa. In northern Senegal, the candidate vectors of this arbovirosis are Aedes (Aedimorphus) vexans Meigen and Culex (Culex) poicilipes Theobald (Diptera: Culicidae). Domestic ruminants are the reservoirs of the virus. A study was undertaken during the 2002 rainy season to assess spatial and temporal variations in exposure to mosquito bites in sheep herds, and to evaluate the possible consequences on the risk of RVF transmission to sheep. Mosquitoes were collected with sheep-baited traps. The number of Ae. vexans females (the predominant species during the 2002 rainy season) trapped per trap-night was the dependent variable in statistical analyses. The trapping periods were divided into six series of two to five consecutive days, from July to November 2002. Three temporary ponds were selected according to their ecological features: depth, bank slope, size and vegetation cover. Traps were laid on the pond bank and in the nearest available compound, close to the sheep night pen. Data were analysed using mixed-effects Poisson models. The explanatory variables were the trapping period, the pond, and the capture site. The exposure to mosquito bites varied according to the pond type, suggesting that the risk of transmission was spatially heterogeneous. However, there was no obvious trend in transmission risk due to the effect of the distance from the compound to the pond. The period with the highest exposure was in October, i.e. when transhumant herds left the Ferlo to relocate to their dry-season settlement. It is thus hypothesized that transhumance, the seasonal movements of herds, plays a significant role in the dissemination of RVF virus in the region.
Aedes↗
Papular urticaria. Insect repellents and seasonal variation.
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Amides↗
The relative efficacy of repellents against mosquito vectors of disease.
Laboratory tests of insect repellents by various different methods showed that An.stephensi Liston was consistently more susceptible than An.gambiae Giles, An.albimanus Wiedemann or An.pulcherrimus Theobald. The six repellents tested were di-ethyl toluamide (deet), di-methyl phthalate (DMP), ethyl-hexanediol, permethrin, citronella and cedarwood oil. Testing systems in which the mosquitoes were presented with a choice gave consistently lower ED50 values than when there was no choice, i.e. the standards of tolerance are not absolute but depend on the options available. In field tests in an experimental hut a curtain with a high dose of di-ethyl toluamide (deet) reduced biting in the hut but had to be re-impregnated frequently. Deet-impregnated anklets gave about 84% protection against Culex quinquefasciatus Say for 80 days after one impregnation, in a trial in which the anklets were brought out of sealed storage and tested for 2 h nightly. Similar protection was found against An.funestus Giles but the protection against An.gambiae s.l., An. coustani Laveran and Mansonia spp. was not as good. There were highly significant differences between the four collectors' mosquito attractiveness but this varied highly significantly between the mosquito species.
Animals↗
Onchocerciasis transmission levels and Simulium damnosum complex biting activity at riverside and rice field sites in Sierra Leone.
Biting densities of the Simulium damnosum Theobald complex of blackflies and their levels of parasitism by Onchocerca volvulus (Leuckart) were compared at two ecologically contrasted sites in the Southern Province of Sierre Leone, West Africa: by the Tabe riverside close to Gbaiima village where onchocerciasis is hyperendemic (63.1% positive skin-snips) and in open rice fields 2 km from the mesoendemic (54.9%) village of Senehun. Using a combination of morphometric and enzyme electrophoresis techniques, the primary vector was found to belong to the S.sanctipauli subcomplex and was most probably S.soubrense 'B' (sensu Post, 1986). In the wet season biting activity took place throughout the day at the village, but had morning and evening peaks in the rice fields. Transmission of O.volvulus was detected at the village in all months except February-April, while in the rice fields it was detected only during September-November and May at one tenth the level of the village. There was a significant difference between the two sites in the proportion of parous flies carrying third stage larvae in the head, but not of other larval stages.
Animals↗
Responses of Anopheles gambiae complex mosquitoes to the use of untreated bednets in The Gambia.
Population dynamics of the Anopheles gambiae complex of malaria vector mosquitoes were studied in four small hamlets in The Gambia. Bednets were used to reduce man/vector contact in two of the hamlets. High densities of An. gambiae, sensu lato, were present for only 3-8 weeks during the rainy season, depending on the position of the hamlet within the study area. The proportions of blood-fed mosquitoes caught indoors (83.0%) and existing from houses (11.6%) were lower in hamlets where bednets were used than in hamlets without (96.5% and 33.1% respectively). Fewer of the blood-fed mosquitoes had fed on man in houses where people slept under bednets (68.2%) than in those without (81.5%). However, the average number of infective bites received by children was still greater than one a year in hamlets where bednets were used. Consequently bednets are considered unlikely to be an effective malaria control measure so long as they are untreated with insecticide.
Animals↗
Impact of permethrin-treated bednets on malaria transmission by the Anopheles gambiae complex in The Gambia.
Malaria vector mosquitoes belonging to the Anopheles gambiae complex were studied in four hamlets in The Gambia. All inhabitants were given bednets treated either with a placebo (milk) in two hamlets or with the pyrethroid insecticide permethrin (500 mg/m2) in two other hamlets. Malaria transmission occurred mainly during a few weeks of the rainy season, in September and October 1987. The indoor resting densities of mosquitoes in permethrin-treated hamlets were reduced, and we estimated over 90% reduction in biting on man by An. gambiae Giles sensu stricto in these hamlets. No mosquitoes were found under permethrin-treated bednets compared with eighty-one recovered from placebo-treated bednets. Mosquitoes exited more readily from rooms where permethrin-treated bednets were used than from rooms with placebo-treated nets. The annual mean probability that a child would receive an infective bite was estimated to be 0.09 in hamlets with insecticide-treated bednets, compared with 1.9 where placebo-treated bednets were used. Permethrin-treated bednets are therefore recommended as a means of effectively reducing the risk of exposure to malaria transmission, particularly in areas of low seasonal transmission.
Animals↗
Efficacy of mosquito nets treated with permethrin in Suriname.
In the rain-forest of Suriname, where malaria is endemic, 95% of the Maroons (who call themselves bush-negroes) and all Amerindians use mosquito nets made of cotton cloth or, less frequently, nylon or cotton gauze over their hammocks or beds. Bush-negroes usually wash their nets weekly; Amerindians wash nets at 1-4 month intervals. Females of the principal local malaria vector, Anopheles darlingi Root, were seen blood-feeding through cotton cloth netting (at 22.30-23.30 hours) on a person sleeping in a hammock; others fed successfully after the net was opened in the morning. Cotton cloth impregnated with permethrin at a rate of 0.5 g/m2 killed all An. darlingi females exposed for 2 min, but after the material had been washed twice in soapy water the bioassay mortality fell to only 21.4%. Exit traps on a hut with a single sleeper protected by a permethrin-impregnated net yielded 185 An. darlingi females (12% blood-fed) in 74 nights, compared with 276 females (19% blood-fed) from another hut with a sleeper using an untreated net on the same nights (P less than 0.001). No An. darlingi females remained resting alive indoors in these huts during the daytime, and very few were found dead on the floor in the mornings (one treated, seven untreated). The 24 h mortality rate for those collected in exit traps was 58.4% for the test hut and 27.1% for the control hut (P less than 0.001). Bioassays of permethrin-treated cotton cloth using laboratory-reared sugar-fed Culex quinquefasciatus Say females showed that sprayed nets were less effective than nets impregnated by soaking (at equivalent dosages of 0.16-1.34 g/m2 measured by chemical assay) and confirmed that washing causes severe decline in insecticidal activity. The feasibility of local mass treatment of mosquito nets is discussed.
Animals↗
Experimental transmission of murine typhus by Xenopsylla cheopis flea bites.
Transmission of Rickettsia typhi to rats by the bites of Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild) fleas was investigated. Procedures rigorously excluded the possibility of contamination of the host skin by flea faeces. Fleas with R. typhi infection (21-25 days post-infection) which fed through bolting cloth (45 min exposure to ten fleas) transmitted rickettsiae with a success rate of 20%. Infective fleas allowed free access to their host for 8 h (10-15 fleas/rat) gave transmission rates of 45-68%. They were also capable of inoculating R. typhi through a membrane of rat skin on a feeder. Only fleas which had been infected for 21 days or longer transmitted R. typhi orally. Oral transmission appeared to be the result of regurgitation of rickettsiae present in the foregut lumen rather than through salivary secretions.
Animals↗
Evaluations of permethrin-impregnated clothing and three topical repellent formulations of deet against tsetse flies in Zambia.
Permethrin-impregnated clothing and three topical repellent formulations of deet (diethyltoluamide) were field tested against natural populations of tsetse flies, mostly Glossina morsitans centralis Machado, in central Zambia. Volunteers wore different combinations of clothing impregnated with permethrin 0.125 mg ai/cm2 and repellents while riding in a vehicle that was driven slowly (4-6 km/h), with the windows and rear door open, through fly-infested areas. The mean rate of tsetse bites was about twenty per 75 min for unprotected people. The treatment combination of permethrin-impregnated clothing (blue cotton coveralls) and either of two controlled-release deet formulations on exposed skin of face and arms provided 91% mean protection, but this was not significantly better (P greater than 0.05) than wearing deet repellent alone (76-87% protection). No significant differences of protection were observed between the three repellent treatments, although the two controlled-release formulations (intended to be more persistent) were applied at approximately half the dosage of the standard 75% deet. Wearing permethrin-impregnated coveralls alone provided relatively poor protection (34%) for the untreated and exposed skin of head and hands. However, olive drab mesh jackets treated with permethrin reduced the tsetse biting rate by 75%.
Animals↗
Use of an electrostatic sprayer for control of anopheline mosquitoes.
The Electrodyn sprayer was compared with a compression sprayer (Hudson X-pert) for residual application of cypermethrin, a pyrethroid insecticide, to control the malaria vectors Anopheles arabiensis Patton and An. funestus Giles in experimental huts at Magugu in Tanzania. The time taken for hut spraying, 2-2.5 min per hut, was similar for both types of sprayer. Two or three huts were treated internally with cypermethrin at 40 or 80 mg a.i./m2 using Electrodyn formulation for comparison with 80 mg a.i./m2 using wettable powder formulation. Each of the twelve huts (including five untreated controls) was fitted with window exit traps and either louvre or verandah traps for mosquito sampling. The Electrodyn sprayer was fitted with a pair of elbowed deflectrodes to direct the positively charged spray droplets onto walls and ceiling. All treatments gave 94-100% mortality-rates of indoor-resting anophelines throughout the evaluation period of 11 weeks post-spray. Reductions of An.arabiensis and An.funestus females by 10-42% and 62-91%, respectively, in rooms and by 72% and 51% in exit traps indicated that cypermethrin deterred mosquitoes from entering the huts. Overall mortality-rates of mosquitoes were 66% of both species in huts treated with 40 mg/m2 Electrodyn, 43% An.funestus and 71% An.arabiensis due to 80 mg/m2 Electrodyn formulation and 49% An.funestus and 64% An.arabiensis due to 80 mg/m2 WP formulation (no significant differences). It is concluded that the Electrodyn sprayer with deflectrodes is a convenient and effective means of residual house-spraying with pyrethroid insecticide for malaria vector control.
Aerosols↗
Pyrethroid-treated bednet effects on mosquitoes of the Anopheles gambiae complex in The Gambia.
The response of Anopheles gambiae complex mosquitoes to men sleeping under insecticide-impregnated or untreated bednets in six verandah trap huts was studied during the dry season in The Gambia. With this type of hut it was possible to collect live and dead indoor-resting mosquitoes and estimate the number of wild mosquitoes which entered, bloodfed on man, and exited each night. Bednets were treated with emulsions targetted to leave deposits of 25 mg/m2 lambda-cyhalothrin, or 5, 50 or 500 mg/m2 permethrin, diluted from emulsifiable concentrates (EC), or a blank formulation similar to the EC except that the permethrin was omitted; the sixth net was left untreated. Nets and sleepers were rotated between huts on different nights, the design being based on a series of Latin squares and conducted double-blind. Permethrin-impregnated bednets deterred mosquitoes from entering the huts. The degree of deterrency was proportional to the dosage of permethrin. This effect was also caused by the blank formulation and therefore attributed to other components of the formulation, rather than to the permethrin itself. The net impregnated with 500 mg permethrin per square metre gave the best individual protection, reducing mosquito bloodfeeding by 91% compared with untreated nets. However, lambda-cyhalothrin was proportionately more insecticidal than permethrin at doses of equivalent deterrency. At this stage of research, it remains conjectural whether chemical deterrency or killing of malaria vectors is better for community protection.
Animals↗
Biological control of Culicidae with the copepod Mesocyclops aspericornis and larvivorous fish (Poeciliidae) in a village of French Polynesia.
The copepod Mesocyclops aspericornis Daday and the larvivorous fishes Gambusia affinis (B. & G.) and Poecilia reticulata R. & B., were released into mosquito breeding sites in Tuherahera village, Tikehau atoll, French Polynesia, to control larvae of Aedes aegypti (L.), Ae.polynesiensis Marks, Culex annulirostris Skuse and Cx quinquefasciatus Say. Treatments were completed within a week, in January 1990. Fish quickly eliminated mosquito larvae from the open breeding sites (ponds, wells). The impact of copepods in water tanks, drums and covered wells was inconsistent, apparently depending on the availability of microfaunal diet for growth of copepod nauplii. As the biting rate of adult Ae.aegypti seemed to be unaffected by the biological control of larvae, this village-scale experiment was judged to be unsuccessful as a means of vector control.
Aedes↗
Relations between Anopheles darlingi breeding habitats, rainfall, river level and malaria transmission rates in the rain forest of Suriname.
Irregular peaks of P.falciparum malaria incidence were monitored in Suriname during 1982-86. An attempt is made to correlate these fluctuations of malaria rates with rainfall and river level in relation to the periodic availability of breeding habitats for the malaria vector Anopheles darlingi Root. Densities of adult female An.darlingi were recorded in the Upper-Marowijne region of Suriname, in a focus of malaria along the Marowijne River. Peaks in biting densities correlated well with periods of (i) high water level in the long rainy season, (ii) low water level in the long dry season, and (iii) abundant rainfall in the short rainy season. Critical levels of river-height and rainfall were defined which could explain most of the monthly fluctuations in malaria parasite incidence observed in this area.
Animals↗