Urban Entomology Highlights From 2019 Help Create Integrated Pest Management Plans.

Urban insect pests such as ants, termites, cockroaches, and bed bugs are more than just nuisances; they often negatively impact structures, landscapes, animal health, commercial food production, food safety, and public health (mental, physical, and financial). Due to the tremendous burden these insects can inflict, researchers, manufacturers, and pest management professionals work to create solutions that effectively manage urban and structural pests. One solution that has proven useful in agriculture is the development of an integrated pest management (IPM) plan; i.e., a science-based approach to pest control that utilizes multiple tactics such as preventative tools, chemical control (sprays, fumigation, and baits), biological control, and exclusion. There are many permutations of urban IPM plans, but in general they consist of five components: 1) identifying the pest, 2) monitoring the pest, 3) developing an intervention plan (including prevention and control techniques), 4) implementing the program, and 5) recording and evaluating the results. The objectives of the current publication were to 1) highlight urban entomology research published in 2019 and 2) show how the results from these publications help pest management professionals create and implement IPM plans.

Perceptions and Responses of Residents to the Nuisance Black Fly Simulium jenningsi (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the Mid-Atlantic United States.

Current management practices of nuisance black flies are conducted on an area-wide level and rely on the support of the public to implement programs. In Maryland, a vocal group of residents campaigned their representatives to begin a management program for the black fly Simulium jenningsi Malloch. To determine how residents in Maryland and its surrounding states perceived the severity of black fly nuisance, we deployed surveys online and in-person on the ways their outdoor activities were impacted and the preventive methods used to mitigate nuisance. Online respondents, those with children, and those who had lived in the region for a shorter amount of time were more likely to report black flies as 'extremely annoying'. Quality-of-life concerns stemming from black fly swarms were primarily related to avoiding outdoor exercise and recreation. The majority of respondents used at least one method of personal protection against black fly annoyance, but satisfaction with any method was low. Methods used by respondents included the removal of standing water and rotting vegetation from their properties, indicating a lack of knowledge about black fly breeding habitats. The results contextualized the needs of residents in future management and topics for outreach efforts to address misconceptions about black fly biology. This study offers an example of the application of social science methodology in understanding the needs of stakeholders in area-wide pest management.

A typology of community and stakeholder engagement based on documented examples in the field of novel vector control.

BACKGROUND: Despite broad consensus on the importance of community and stakeholder engagement (CSE) for guiding the development, regulation, field testing, and deployment of emerging vector control technologies (such as genetically engineered insects), the types of activities pursued have varied widely, as have the outcomes. We looked to previous CSE efforts for clarity about appropriate methods and goals. Our analysis yielded a typology of CSE, and related vocabulary, that describes distinctions that funders, organizers, and scholars should make when proposing or evaluating CSE. METHODS: We compiled available formal documentation of CSE projects, starting with projects mentioned in interviews with 17 key informants. Major features of these examples, including the initiators, target groups, timing, goals, and methods were identified using qualitative coding. Based on these examples, subcategories were developed for a subset of features and applied to the identified cases of CSE in the documents. Co-occurrence of subcategorized features was examined for patterns. RESULTS: We identified 14 documented examples CSE projects, which were comprised of 28 distinct CSE activities. We found no clear patterns with respect to timing. However, we found that grouping examples according to whether initiators or targets could enact the immediate desired outcome could help to clarify relationships between goals, methods, and targets. CONCLUSION: Based on this analysis, we propose a typology that distinguishes three categories of CSE: engagement to inquire -where initiators are empowered to act on information collected through engagement with target groups; engagement to influence -where initiators engage to affect the actions of already-empowered target groups; and engagement to involve -where initiators engage to delegate authority to target groups. The proposed typology can serve as a guide for establishing the goals, identifying appropriate methods, and evaluating and reporting CSE projects by directing attention to important questions to be asked well before determining who to engage and how.

[Recurrence of dengue epidemics in Burkina Faso: Community preference for an intervention to prevent the disease]. / Épidémies récurrentes de la dengue au Burkina Faso : préférences communautaires pour une intervention de prévention de la maladie.

BACKGROUND: Community-based interventions have proven effective in several Latin American countries in controlling dengue vector Aedes aegypti and reducing the burden of the disease. However, we did not find any study reporting the assessment or implementation of such interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa. This article presents local communities' preferences for activities as part of the implementation of a community-based intervention for dengue prevention in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) where dengue epidemics are recurrent during the rainy season. METHODS: A mixed-method study combining qualitative and quantitative data collection was conducted. Information from 983 households and their preferences for community-based activities for dengue prevention were collected in five neighborhoods of the city using a quantitative questionnaire. Then, 15 qualitative focus groups were organized in one of the neighborhoods that was randomly selected to receive a community-based intervention for dengue prevention. These groups were made up of 216 people representing the different socio-cultural categories: community leaders, men, women, young girls and boys. RESULTS: More than 95% of household respondents to the quantitative questionnaire found community-based interventions acceptable and/or useful: to raise awareness of mosquito-borne disease transmission, to identify and remove the mosquito breeding sites and areas favorable to the development of the adult vectors. Most participants in the focus groups, preferred outreach activities such as video/debate sessions, school and home education sessions, focus groups. They also preferred the implementation of community working groups, responsible for identifying and eliminating mosquito breeding sites in the neighborhood. However, many participants had reservations about sending preventive text messages to residents. They found it feasible but not useful since most people cannot read. CONCLUSION: This study shows that it is important to get the local communities involved in the formulation of health prevention activities in sub-Saharan Africa where some interventions are often implemented using strategies from other continents.

CONASS convoca estados e municípios para a mobilização contra o Aedes Aegypti

CONASS convoca estados e municípios para a mobilização contra o Aedes Aegypti amanhã, 13 de fevereiro Faça sua parte! Um mosquito não pode ser mais forte que um país inteiro!

Multiple Approaches to Address Potential Risk Factors of Chagas Disease Transmission in Northeastern Brazil.

Chagas disease is one of the most significant systemic parasitosis in Latin America, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, which is mainly transmitted by hematophagous insects, the triatomines. This research was carried out in both domestic and wild environments throughout a Northeastern rural locality. Triatomines were captured in both peridomicile and wild environments, obtaining 508 specimens of triatomines, of which 99.6% were Triatoma brasiliensis. Insects were captured in 10 (18.5%) peridomiciles with an average of 8.3 triatomines per residence. Triatoma brasiliensis nymphs and adults were found in six peridomiciles, generating a 11.1% colonization. No T. cruzi infection was detected in the 447 peridomestic insects analyzed. On the other hand, of the 55 sylvatic T. brasiliensis molecularly examined for T. cruzi, 12 (21%) were positive, all harboring T. cruzi I. The blood meal analysis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay from gut content revealed that both peridomestic and wild triatomine populations fed mainly on birds, refractory to the parasite, which may explain the null rate of natural infection prevalence in the domestic environment. However, infected triatomines for potential home infestation within the radius of insect dispersion capacity were registered in rock outcrops around the dwellings. Anthropogenic environmental influences are able to rapidly alter these scenarios. Therefore, to avoid disease transmission to humans, we recommend constant vector control combined with periodic serological surveillance. The associated methodology presented herein may serve as a model for early detections of risk factors for Chagas disease transmission in the Brazilian Northeast.

Enhancing vector refractoriness to trypanosome infection: achievements, challenges and perspectives.

With the absence of effective prophylactic vaccines and drugs against African trypanosomosis, control of this group of zoonotic neglected tropical diseases depends the control of the tsetse fly vector. When applied in an area-wide insect pest management approach, the sterile insect technique (SIT) is effective in eliminating single tsetse species from isolated populations. The need to enhance the effectiveness of SIT led to the concept of investigating tsetse-trypanosome interactions by a consortium of researchers in a five-year (2013-2018) Coordinated Research Project (CRP) organized by the Joint Division of FAO/IAEA. The goal of this CRP was to elucidate tsetse-symbiome-pathogen molecular interactions to improve SIT and SIT-compatible interventions for trypanosomoses control by enhancing vector refractoriness. This would allow extension of SIT into areas with potential disease transmission. This paper highlights the CRP's major achievements and discusses the science-based perspectives for successful mitigation or eradication of African trypanosomosis.

International Program to Monitor Cat Flea Populations for Susceptibility to Imidacloprid.

An international team of scientists and veterinarians was assembled in 1999 to develop a monitoring program to determine the susceptibility of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis felis (Bouché) (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), to imidacloprid. Cat flea eggs were collected, shipped to laboratories, and tested for their susceptibility to imidacloprid. Over 3,000 C. felis populations were collected from 2002 to 2017 from 10 different countries. Of these, 66.3% were collected from cats and 33.7% from dogs. C. f. felis populations (n = 2,200) were bioassayed by exposing cat flea eggs and the emerging larvae to a Diagnostic Dose (DD) of 3 ppm imidacloprid in larval rearing medium. Flea eggs hatched and developed in the untreated controls in 1,837 of the isolates (83.5%) bioassayed. Flea isolates (n = 61) that had ≥5% survival at the DD of 3 ppm were retested with a second DD of 3 ppm. None of them had ≥5% survival to the second dose of 3 ppm. Of the 1,837 valid C. felis isolates tested, there has been no evidence of a decreased susceptibility to imidacloprid over the past 17 yr. The methods outlined in this article should provide an acceptable protocol for testing many of the new active ingredients that have been registered for cat flea control.

After 70 years of fighting an age-old scourge, onchocerciasis in Uganda, the end is in sight.

Onchocerciasis causes severe itching, serious skin disease and ocular damage leading to visual impairment or permanent blindness. It is associated with hanging groin, epilepsy, Nakalanga dwarfism and, most recently, nodding disease. This disease affected communities in 17 transmission foci in 37 districts of Uganda, where about 6.7 million people are once at risk. The efforts against onchocerciasis in Uganda commenced in the late 1940s, when vector control was launched using dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane; by 1973, Simulium damnosum had been eliminated in the Victoria focus. Success outside of the Victoria focus was short-lived due to changes in government priorities and the political upheavals of the 1970s and 1980s. With the return of political stability, annual treatment with ivermectin through mass drug administration was launched in the early 1990s. Control of the disease has been successful, but there has been failure in interrupting transmission after more than 15 years. In 2007 Uganda launched a nationwide transmission elimination policy based on twice-per-year treatment and vector control/elimination, with a goal of eliminating river blindness nationwide by 2020. By 2017, 1 157 303 people from six foci had been freed from river blindness. This is the largest population ever declared free under World Health Organization elimination guidelines, providing evidence that elimination of river blindness in Africa is possible.

Alternative treatment strategies to accelerate the elimination of onchocerciasis.

The use of alternative (or complementary) treatment strategies (ATSs) i.e. differing from annual community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI) is required in some African foci to eliminate onchocerciasis by 2025. ATSs include vector control, biannual or pluriannual CDTI, better timing of CDTI, community-directed treatment with combinations of currently available anthelminthics or new drugs, and 'test-and-treat' (TNT) strategies requiring diagnosis of infection and/or contraindications to treatment for decisions on who to treat with what regimen. Two TNT strategies can be considered. Loa-first TNT, designed for loiasis-endemic areas and currently being evaluated using a rapid test (LoaScope), consists of identifying individuals with levels of Loa microfilaremia associated with a risk of post-ivermectin severe adverse events to exclude them from ivermectin treatment and in treating the rest (usually >97%) of the population safely. Oncho-first TNT consists of testing community members for onchocerciasis before giving treatment (currently ivermectin or doxycycline) to those who are infected. The choice of the ATS depends on the prevalences and intensities of infection with Onchocerca volvulus and Loa loa and on the relative cost-effectiveness of the strategies for the given epidemiological situation. Modelling can help select the optimal strategies, but field evaluations to determine the relative cost-effectiveness are urgently needed.

Refocusing vector assessment towards the elimination of onchocerciasis from Africa: a review of the current status in selected countries.

Measures to control onchocerciasis have been in place for well over 30 years. Recently, programs have turned from disease control towards transmission elimination. The absence of infective larvae in the black fly Simulium sp. vector is central to defining elimination, and assessments of infectivity by O150 polymerase chain reaction in the vector not only provide valuable information to programs, but are also required for verification of elimination. The status of transmission in black flies was assessed in five countries in the African region during 2014 and 2015. Several of these countries were evaluated because of promising results from epidemiological studies in humans. No infective flies were found in two countries. Infective flies were found in the other three, despite the absence of infection in humans (as evaluated by skin-snip microscopy). Ongoing transmission as demonstrated in the black flies could be due to a variety of factors, including lack of treatment of hypo-endemic areas and cross-border issues. Challenges identified during the course of the entomological work suggest that there is a need for improved selection of vector collection sites and vector collection periods in order to improve fly catches. Two important challenges to achieving elimination identified were definition of the hypo-endemic zones and establishing the existence of areas of cross-border transmission occurring between countries.

Ecology of Trypanosoma cruzi I genotypes across Rhodnius prolixus captured in Attalea butyracea palms.

Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease exhibits significant genetic diversity. This parasite is divided into six discrete typing units (DTUs) where T. cruzi I (TcI) is the most widespread in the Americas. TcI genotypes have been associated to domestic and sylvatic cycles of transmission (TcIDom and sylvatic TcI). Due to the importance of the enzootic transmission, we determined the frequency of TcI genotypes present in Rhodnius prolixus captured in different regions of the palm A. butyracea to understand the ecology of the disease and the importance of A. butyracea palms as ecotopes of R. prolixus. Forty A. butyracea palms were sampled (base crown, mid-point and crown) capturing 105 individuals identified as R. prolixus by morphological and molecular barcoding. We conducted molecular detection and typing of T. cruzi across 59 individuals. The results showed that all the insects were infected with TcI; 28.57% were sylvatic TcI, 12.38% TcIDom and 15,24% mixed infections (TcIDom/sylvatic TcI). Statistical analysis showed a similar behavior between TcIDom and mixed infections in the mid-point and at the crown of the palm, being more frequent in the crown, while sylvatic TcI does not seem to have a specific association with any of the sampled areas. These findings are consistent with other studies showing high mobility of the insect vector between different ecotopes, increasing the need to develop improvements in the programs of disease control.

[Fighting mosquitoes in the Netherlands: risks and control of exotic mosquitoes]. / Muggenbestrijding in Nederland: risico's en bestrijding van exotische muggen.

Mosquitoes play a significant role globally in the transmission of so-called vector-borne diseases. In the Netherlands, native mosquitoes are capable of transmitting infectious disease. This has not resulted in outbreaks of disease over the last 50 years. The establishment of exotic mosquito species could pose risks to public health, especially in the case of the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Several organisations are working together to prevent the establishment of exotic mosquitoes in the Netherlands. A plan for controlling native mosquito species is also currently being developed.

An innovative ecohealth intervention for Chagas disease vector control in Yucatan, Mexico.

BACKGROUND: Non-domiciliated (intrusive) triatomine vectors remain a challenge for the sustainability of Chagas disease vector control as these triatomines are able to transiently (re-)infest houses. One of the best-characterized examples is Triatoma dimidiata from the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, where adult insects seasonally infest houses between March and July. METHODS: We focused our study on three rural villages in the state of Yucatan, Mexico, in which we performed a situation analysis as a first step before the implementation of an ecohealth (ecosystem approach to health) vector control intervention. RESULTS: The identification of the key determinants affecting the transient invasion of human dwellings by T. dimidiata was performed by exploring associations between bug presence and qualitative and quantitative variables describing the ecological, biological and social context of the communities. We then used a participatory action research approach for implementation and evaluation of a control strategy based on window insect screens to reduce house infestation by T. dimidiata. CONCLUSIONS: This ecohealth approach may represent a valuable alternative to vertically-organized insecticide spraying. Further evaluation may confirm that it is sustainable and provides effective control (in the sense of limiting infestation of human dwellings and vector/human contacts) of intrusive triatomines in the region.

Experimental control of Triatoma infestans in poor rural villages of Bolivia through community participation.

BACKGROUND: Triatoma infestans is the main vector of Chagas disease in the southern cone countries. Present control strategies based on indoor and outdoor residual insecticide spraying are not sufficient to control disease transmission, particularly in Bolivia. Techniques based on the management of the human environment may be good alternatives or supplements. METHODS: Social and entomological surveys were carried out in four villages of Bolivia situated in the dry inter-Andean Valleys and the Chaco region. Risk factors for house infestation by T. infestans were identified, and an eco-health intervention based on education and community participation was carried out to reduce the risks of house infestation. It consisted of implementing simple and low cost vector control techniques such as coating of mud walls, cleaning activities and removal of poultry that enter rooms to lay eggs. RESULTS: The eco-health intervention significantly reduced the number of infested bedrooms, the mean abundance of T. infestans in bedrooms and beds, especially in the Chaco region. Mud wall coating was well accepted and could be proposed as a supplementary tool to the National Program of Chagas Disease Control to enhance the effects of insecticide sprayings. CONCLUSIONS: Even if cleaning activities were still neglected, community participation proved to be effective in reducing house infestation.