Effects of Seasonal Conditions on Abundance of Malaria Vector Anopheles stephensi Mosquitoes, Djibouti, 2018-2021.

We describe the influence of seasonal meteorologic variations and rainfall events on Anopheles stephensi mosquito populations during a 40-month surveillance study at a US military base in Djibouti. Focusing surveillance and risk mitigation for An. stephensi mosquitoes when climatic conditions are optimal presents an opportunity for malaria prevention and control in eastern Africa.

Efficacy and duration of three residual insecticides on cotton duck and vinyl tent surfaces for control of the sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae).

This study evaluated the toxicity and duration of 3 residual insecticides against the Old World sand fly, Phlebotomus papatasi, an important vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis, on 2 types of tent material used by the US military in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Vinyl and cotton duck tent surfaces were treated at maximum labeled rates of lambda-cyhalothrin (Demand CS, Zeneca Inc, Wilmington, DE), bifenthrin (Talstar P Professional, FMC Corporation, Philadelphia, PA) and permethrin (Insect Repellent, Clothing Application, 40%), then subsequently stored in indoor, shaded spaces at room temperature (60%-70% relative humidity (RH), 22°C-25°C), and under sunlight and ambient air temperatures outdoors (20%-30% RH, 29°C-44°C). Insecticide susceptible colony flies (F110) obtained from the insectary of US Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, Cairo, Egypt, were exposed to treated tent surfaces for 30-minute periods twice monthly for up to 5 months, then once monthly thereafter, using the World Health Organization cone assay. Lambda-cyhalothrin treated cotton duck tent material stored indoors killed P. papatasi for 8 months, while the complementary sun-exposed cotton duck material killed adult flies for 1 month before the efficacy dropped to less than 80%. Sand fly mortality on permethrin- and bifenthrin-treated cotton duck decreased below 80% after 2 weeks exposure to sunlight. Shade-stored permethrin and bifenthrin cotton duck material killed more than 80% of test flies through 5 months before mortality rates decreased substantially. Vinyl tent material provided limited control (less than 50% mortality) for less than 1 month with all treatment and storage regimes. Lambda-cyhalothrin-treated cotton duck tent material provided the longest control and produced the highest overall mortalities (100% for 8 months (shaded), more than 90% for 1 month (sunlight-exposed)) of both cotton duck and vinyl tents.