Vector control

I. Introduction
Scientists estimate that there are about 10 million species of insects in the world.
Some of them like the bee and the silk worm produce important benefits. Others
like the butterfly and the fireflies are aesthetically pleasing. However, others, like
Cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes, termites, locusts, are destructive, and even dangerous.
for man. Certain rodents are also capable of transmitting infectious agents and
they represent a great challenge for Public Health.

Insects and rodents are responsible for numerous outbreaks of diseases among the
animals and among men. Furthermore, these organisms can cause significant
annoyances from their stings and bites. Also, they can end up contaminating
large amounts of food that will then need to be destroyed to avoid the
potential spread of diseases, with the subsequent economic harm. The
contamination can be produced because vectors spread through contact the
microorganisms that carry in their body, or they do it through their excretions.
that they generate.

Traditionally, vector and pest control was performed through the application of
pesticide products. Although these products have managed to reduce the incidence of the
vector-borne diseases, their massive use poses a risk of
pollution for people, animals, food, and, in general, the environment. The
The danger of pesticides is related to their environmental characteristics:
of high persistence in the environment and bioaccumulation in the food chain; and of the risks for
the man derived from its use: neurological and/or endocrine affectation, capacity
carcinogenic / teratogenic, etc...
Most of the most important vector-borne diseases cannot be
prevented by vaccines or chemotherapy. Their control is based on the ability to reduce
the source of vectors and the contact between vectors and man.
In this regard, it is very important to note that removal can be achieved.
highly effective vector and pest control through the use of physical methods and techniques
of environmental sanitation. The use of pesticides, chemical control methods
vectorial, it must be relegated to the ineffectiveness of actions at other levels, only then
we will achieve vector and pest control, without this surveillance implying a
environmental pollution from pesticides.

II. Definition of vector

A vector is called an organism that transmits an infectious or infesting agent from the
individuals affected to others who do not yet carry that agent.
 Most important vectors in public health
ARTHROPODS DISEASES

Mosquitos Malaria
Lymphatic Filariasis
Yellow fever

Bugs American trypanosomiasis

Phlebotomists Leishmaniasis
Flies Typhoid fever
Bacillary dysentery
Diarrhea
Myiasis
Mites Zebra

Simulidos Onchocerciasis
Lice Pediculosis
Exanthematous typhus
Fleas Murine typhus
Cockroaches Typhoid fever
Diarrhea

To have effectiveness in vector control, it is necessary:

Knowledge of the behavior and biology of the vector involved in the

transmission, in order to know where and when the treatments will be effective;
Knowledge of insecticides and the most suitable formulations for
intervention;
Knowledge of the behavior and biology of the vector involved in the
transmission, in order to know where and when the treatments will be effective;
Knowledge of insecticides and the most suitable formulations for
intervention;

III. Function of vector control

Reduce the infection to through prevention or reduction of the
transmission
Prevent epidemics or the reintroduction of disease
Reduce the risk factors

INTEGRATED VECTOR CONTROL

Resort to all appropriate technological and environmental management procedures to

achieve an effective degree of vector reduction with an appropriate balance between cost and the
effectiveness.
 2. SELECTIVE CONTROL OF VECTORS:

It is based on the need to use selective tools that are low-cost and feasible.
to achieve an effective, significant, and permanent reduction of the population
of vectors (WHO, 1995).
3. VECTOR CONTROL METHODS

A. CHEMICAL CONTROL:
Its chemical composition: inorganic, organic (natural and synthetic)
According to the insect phase: adulticide, larvicide.
According to the duration of the effect: instantaneous, residual
According to their action: stomachic, contact, fumigants, growth inhibitors.
B. PHYSICAL CONTROL:
Cleaning of breeding sites
Drainage, filling of the breeding sites
Physical barriers.
C. BIOLOGICAL CONTROL:
Predators (fish, copepods)
Parasites and pathogens (nematodes)
Protozoa
Bacteria (Bacillus sp.)
Genetic translocations

A. Chemical control
 [Link]
Chemical products aimed at insect elimination. There are natural and artificial ones.
There must be an appropriate use of them. It is the most used instrument against the
insects
IDEAL INSECTICIDE

Destroy all vectors in the different phases

Quick action
Non-toxic or low toxicity
Be economical
Leave the minimum waste in the host and be quickly destroyed by the host itself
environment
1. Advantages and disadvantages of using insecticides

2. Classification of insecticides
1) ACCORDING TO ITS ENTRY INTO THE ORGANISM

by contact
upon ingestion
by inhalation

2) BY THE WAY OF ACTING IN THE STATES OF DEVELOPMENT

o Ovicides – eggs
o Larvicidad–larvas
o Pupicides - pupae
o Imagocides–adults:
The chemical control methods for adult vectors aim to
reduce the density and longevity of mosquitoes and other parameters of
transmission. The imagocides are well applied as treatments for
surfaces with residual effect or as treatments for spaces.

3) ACCORDING TO THE DURATION OF THE TREATMENT EFFECT

Residual effect: the active ingredient applied in a specific place,

remains at a lethal dose for an organism for some time
prolonged

Instant effect: once applied, it is immediate on the organism that it

wants to fight

4) BY ITS METHOD OF APPLICATION

Spraying: distribution of the plant protection product in powder form by means of the
application of an air current that passes through the tank of
treatment drags part of the product

Spraying: the distribution of pesticides is carried out in the form of

liquid that settles on plants in the form of small drops
 3. Chemistry of Insecticides

V. Chemical control of disease vector transmitters in Peru

a) Malaria: Application of larvicidal insecticides such as Organophosphates
(Temephos) and adulticides such as Pyrethroids (Permethrin, Cypermethrin,
Ciflitrina, etc)
b) Dengue :
1. Use of abate: it is a larvicide, so it does not eliminate the other stages.
Release the active ingredient until the water column is saturated. The larvae when
they filter water by ingesting in abate.
2. Treatment with residual effect
The perifocal treatment, as described above, has effects
larvicides and imagocides. The appropriate insecticides must be applied with
manual compression sprayers and care must be taken not to treat
the containers that are used to store drinking water.
Indoor spraying with residual effect involves applying insecticides
with a long-lasting chemical action on the walls and ceilings of all
the houses and pens of domestic animals in a specific area, in order to
eliminate the adult vector mosquitoes that rest and remain on those
surface.
c) Chagas disease: Through the spraying technique, it is the application of
special insecticide for indoors and outdoors, for the elimination of
bed bugs of the domestic and peridomestic environment, with the purpose of
interrupt the transmission of the disease.
d) Leishmaniasis: The main methods to control phlebotomines with
Insecticides are: Indoor fumigation with action insecticides.
residual and the resting places of the jungle species

CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
 B. Biological control
Biological control is based on the introduction of organisms that prey on or parasitize the
populations of the species intended to be controlled, that compete with them or reduce them from
some other way.

Biological control organisms are bred and distributed in wells or containers where they are stored.
water. Small-scale projects have been carried out that have shown that the success of control
biological mainly depends on the organization of the project.

a. Fish
Several species of fish have been used to eliminate mosquitoes from large containers used
to store drinking water in many countries, as well as in open freshwater wells, ditches
and industrial deposits. Generally, guppies (Poecilia reticulata) adapt well to these types.
of closed aquatic media and have been used many times.
 b. Predator copepods
The effectiveness of several species of copepods (small crustaceans) has also been demonstrated.
predators against dengue vectors in operational contexts. However, although the
Populations of copepods can survive for long periods, it may be necessary.
carry out reintroductions, as happens with fish, to keep the populations controlled
mosquitos.

In northern Vietnam, a vector control program has been implemented in which

they use copepods in large water bodies, along with source reduction strategies, and they
has managed to eliminate the population of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes in many communities, in addition to
prevent the transmission of dengue for several years. To date, those experiences have not been
successfully repeated in other countries.

copepod Notonectidae

Bibliography
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Vector and pest control. Good practices manual. Available at:
[[Link]
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OMS. Fight against dengue. Chemical control. Available at:
[[Link]
LOPEZ, P.E. (2016) Integrated vector management in public health. Available at:
[[Link]