RESEARCH ARTICLE


In VitroEfficacy of Four Insecticides Against Eggs of Tunga penetrans (Siphonaptera)



Tim Kiesewetter1, Liana Ariza2, Maria M. Martins3, Jean E. Limongi4, 5, Juliana Junqueira da Silva5, Julio Mendes4, Claudia M. Lins Calheiros6, Heiko Becher7, Jorg Heukelbach2, 8, *
1 School of Medicine, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2 Department of Community Health, School of Medicine, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil
3 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Federal Universidade of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil
4 Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal Universidade of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil
5 Centre of Control of Zoonotic Diseases, Municipal Health Secretariat of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil
6 Institute of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil
7 Institute of Public Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
8 Anton Breinl Centre for Public Health and Tropical Medicine, School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia


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© Kiesewetter et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Departamento de Saude Comunitaria, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Rua Professor Costa Mendes 1608, 5. andar, Fortaleza CE, 60430-140, Brazil. Tel: ++55-85-33668045; Fax: ++55-85-33668050; E-mail: heukelbach@web.de


Abstract

Systematic assessments of control measures against the jigger flea Tunga penetrans are scarce, and there are no published data available on the efficacy of environmental insecticides against immature stages. We tested four environmental contact insecticides used by Brazilian authorities for disease control (deltamethrin, bifenthrin, dichlorvos and etofenprox) against T. penetrans eggs. Eggs were reared in vitro. Hatch rates were observed under standardized conditions and compared to a control group (40 eggs in each group). No larvae hatched after treatment with the organophosphate dichlorvos (100% efficacy). The efficacies of the other products tested varied between 17% and 57%. The data show that the organophosphate dichlorvos had a good in vitro efficacy. The use of dichlorvos can be directed to typical spots where early stages of T. penetrans are expected, considering its toxicity. Disease control should also consist of prevention measures concerning housing and environmental conditions, veterinary and human health measures.

Keywords: chigoe flea, efficacy, insecticides, prevention.