title: Laboratory and field trials of permethrin-treated cotton used as nesting material to control fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) on cricetid rodents.
abstract: Upholstery cotton treated with four different concentrations (0.25-2.0%) (2,500-20,000 ppm) of an aqueous permethrin solution, used as nesting material by white mice, was laboratory-tested against the potential plague vectors Oropsylla montana (Baker), Thrassis bacchi (Rothschild), and Orchopeas howardi (Baker) and found highly effective (P less than 0.001) for 1 yr. Similarly treated cotton gauze was tested under ambient and 75% RH and was found to be highly effective (P less than 0.001) in both environments for 1 yr. A separate test determined that the LD50 of permethrin-treated cotton was less than 10 ppm. Cotton tested with 0.5% permethrin and distributed under field conditions to cricetid rodents for use as nesting material was found to be highly effective (P less than 0.001 as a pulicide for greater than 4 mo when tested during winter in Larimer County, Colo. Permethrin-treated cotton was less successful in controlling fleas on cricetid rodents during the summer months in a New Mexico hyperendemic plague area.
authors.affiliation: Bacterial Zoonoses Branch, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Fort Collins, Colo. 80522.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Beard
authors.forename: G O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Maupin
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Craven
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Montman
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Barnes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000469:parasitology*; D004478:Ectoparasitic Infestations / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D003368:Gossypium; D007306:Insecticides; D026023:Permethrin; D011722:Pyrethrins; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005423:Siphonaptera
chemical_list: D007306:Insecticides; D011722:Pyrethrins; D026023:Permethrin