Temperature and time of host-seeking activity impact the efficacy of chemical control interventions targeting the West Nile virus vector, Culex tarsalis.

Autor: Kalmouni J; The Center for Evolution & Medicine, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America., Will JB Jr; Vector Control Division, Maricopa County Environmental Services Department, Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America., Townsend J; Vector Control Division, Maricopa County Environmental Services Department, Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America., Paaijmans KP; The Center for Evolution & Medicine, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America.; Simon A. Levin Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America.; WITS Research Institute for Malaria (WRIM), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PLoS neglected tropical diseases [PLoS Negl Trop Dis] 2024 Aug 30; Vol. 18 (8), pp. e0012460. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 30 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0012460
Abstrakt: West Nile virus (WNV) is the leading mosquito-borne disease causing-pathogen in the United States. Concerningly, there are no prophylactics or drug treatments for WNV and public health programs rely heavily on vector control efforts to lessen disease incidence. Insecticides can be effective in reducing vector numbers if implemented strategically, but can diminish in efficacy and promote insecticide resistance otherwise. Vector control programs which employ mass-fogging applications of insecticides, often conduct these methods during the late-night hours, when diel temperatures are coldest, and without a-priori knowledge on daily mosquito activity patterns. This study's aims were to 1) quantify the effect of temperature on the toxicity of two conventional insecticides used in fogging applications (malathion and deltamethrin) to Culex tarsalis, an important WNV vector, and 2) quantify the time of host-seeking of Cx. tarsalis and other local mosquito species in Maricopa County, Arizona. The temperature-toxicity relationship of insecticides was assessed using the WHO tube bioassay, and adult Cx. tarsalis, collected as larvae, were exposed to three different insecticide doses at three temperature regimes (15, 25, and 35°C; 80% RH). Time of host-seeking was assessed using collection bottle rotators with encephalitis vector survey traps baited with dry ice, first at 3h intervals during a full day, followed by 1h intervals during the night-time. Malathion became less toxic at cooler temperatures at all doses, while deltamethrin was less toxic at cooler temperatures at the low dose. Regarding time of host-seeking, Cx. tarsalis, Aedes vexans, and Culex quinquefasciatus were the most abundant vectors captured. During the 3-hour interval surveillance over a full day, Cx. tarsalis were most-active during post-midnight biting (00:00-06:00), accounting for 69.0% of all Cx. tarsalis, while pre-midnight biting (18:00-24:00) accounted for 30.0% of Cx. tarsalis. During the 1-hour interval surveillance overnight, Cx. tarsalis were most-active during pre-midnight hours (18:00-24:00), accounting for 50.2% of Cx. tarsalis captures, while post-midnight biting (00:00-06:00) accounted for 49.8% of Cx. tarsalis. Our results suggest that programs employing large-scale applications of insecticidal fogging should consider temperature-toxicity relationships coupled with time of host-seeking data to maximize the efficacy of vector control interventions in reducing mosquito-borne disease burden.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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