title: A motorized vehicle-mounted sprayer as a new tool for Chagas disease vector control.
abstract: Residual insecticide spraying still is the main tool used to suppress house infestations with Chagas disease vectors. While manual compression sprayers (MCS) have traditionally been used in Latin America, Mendoza's vector control program from Argentina introduced the use of a modified motorized vehicle-mounted sprayer (VMS) with apparent advantages over MCS. We conducted a randomized intervention trial to evaluate the effectiveness and selected components of the performance of MCS and VMS. We assessed house infestation by Triatoma infestans in 76 previously-infested houses at 0, 1, 4 and 12 months postintervention. Infestations were reduced substantially, with no significant differences between treatments. End-point infestations 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 infestations completely. The main relative advantages of VMS were a reduced physical effort, especially under harsh field conditions, and potential gains in spray coverage per unit of time.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Ana Laura
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Carbajal-de-la-Fuente
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Salud Pública, Ministerio de la Salud de Mendoza, Mendoza, Argentina.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lencina
authors.affiliation: Programa Nacional de Chagas, Ministerio de la Salud, Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spillmann
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Ricardo Esteban
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gürtler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007300:Insect Control / Q000379:methods*; D007303:Insect Vectors; D007306:Insecticides; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D012424:Rural Population; D014224:Triatoma
chemical_list: D007306:Insecticides