TREATING CATTLE WITH INSECTICIDE - A NEW APPROACH FOR MALARIA CONTROL IN SOUTH ASIA (p 1837)June 06, 2001Insecticide treatment of livestock could be a new, cost-effective malaria-control strategy in south Asia, conclude authors of a study in this week's issue of THE LANCET. Indoor spraying of houses with insecticide - the standard method of malaria control in south Asia - is becoming prohibitively expensive to implement and new approaches are needed. Since the region's vector mosquitoes feed predominantly on domestic animals (and only secondarily on human beings), the use of insecticide on cattle could be more cost-effective. Mark Rowland and colleagues from HealthNet International and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, aimed to investigate whether domestic livestock treated with the insecticide deltamethrin would prove toxic to mosquitoes and therefore aid in malaria control. Six Afghan refugee settlements in Pakistan were randomly assigned to one of two groups. In one group livestock were treated with deltamethrin (applied with sponges) during the malaria transmission seasons of 1995 and 1997; in the other group livestock were treated during the 1996 season. Malaria was monitored by case detection at village clinics and by cross-sectional surveillance. Mosquitoes were also monitored to assess the effect of the insecticide treatment. The incidence of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum decreased by 56% and by Plasmodium vivax 31% in villages where livestock were treated; in these areas the density and life expectancy of mosquitoes was reduced. The effectiveness of livestock treatment was similar to that of indoor spraying but campaign costs were reduced by 80%. The investigators subsequently applied the technique in a highly endemic village and reduced plasmodium falciparum malaria by over 90%. Mark Rowland comments: "We believe that livestock sponging is a new way to control malaria where vectors are zoophilic and feed predominantly on cattle; the technology is simple and can be safely implemented by the community. We recommend livestock sponging as a substitute for indoor spraying wherever malaria transmission due to zoophilic mosquitoes is a risk to public health". Contact: Mr Mark Rowland, Disease Control and Vector Biology Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, LONDON WC1E 7HT, UK; T)+44 (0)20 7299 4719 or 8347 9323; F) +44 (0)20 7580 9075; E) m.rowland@lshtm.ac.uk Lancet |
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