Mechanical versus motorized vehicle-mounted sprayers: performance evaluation of a new method for Chagas disease vector control.

LENCINA P; SPILLMANN C; CARBAJAL DE LA FUENTE AL; GÜRTLER RE

CADERNOS DE SAúDE PúBLICA

CADERNOS SAUDE PUBLICA

Lugar: Rio de Janeiro; Año: 2017 vol. 33 p. 99115 - 99115

0102-311X

Residual insecticide spraying still is the main tool used to reduce house infestations with Chagas disease vectors. While manual compression sprayers (MCS) have been traditionally used in Latin America, Mendoza?s vector control program from Argentina introduced the use of a new tool: a motorized vehicle-mounted sprayer (VMS). To investigate whether the use of VMS represented an improvement relative to the MCS, we conducted a randomized intervention trial and evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of insecticide spraying operations in Mendoza. We assessed house infestation (IN) by Triatoma infestans in 76 houses at 0, 1, 4 and 12 months postintervention, INs were reduced with no significant differences between treatments. End-point INs were restricted to peridomiciles. Although VMS required less time to complete the house spraying than MCS, both treatments had similar performance and did not suppress INs completely. The main relative advantages of VMS were a reduced physical effort under harsh field conditions and potential gains in spray coverage per unit of time.