Evaluation of efficacy of impregnated curtains in experimental hen houses as a phlebotomine control tool in northeast Argentina

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of insecticide-impregnated curtains against the entry of phlebotomine (Diptera: Psychodidae) flies into experimental slatted hen houses in an area endemic for American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL). Three treatments in experimental dwellings containing three chickens each were applied using, respectively, an impregnated curtain (IC), a non-impregnated curtain (NIC) and no curtain (NC). A control site without chickens (WC) was included. The study used permethrin at 0.05 g/m2. During each month for 1 year, each experimental hen house randomly received all treatments. Phlebotomine sandflies were captured using REDILA BL traps placed inside the hen house. Significant differences in abundances of phlebotomine flies/trap/night were observed between treatments (χ2 = 17853.58, d.f. = 3, P < 0.0001): 59.7% of phlebotomines were captured in the NC treatment, 26.3% in the NIC treatment, 8.0% in the IC treatment and 6.1% in the WC condition. Nyssomyia whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho) was the most abundant species in all collections (89.9%). These results showed a lower abundance of phlebotomines in the experimental hen house in the IC condition than in the hen house in the NC condition (P < 0.05) and that the presence of NIC represents an effective physical barrier against phlebotomines (P < 0.05). Therefore, the use of curtains may be an alternative eco-friendly method for the prevention of indoor ACL transmission in slatted dwellings, which represent a common house type in northeast Argentina. Fil: Manteca Acosta, Mariana. Ministerio de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical; Argentina. Red de Investigación de Leishmaniasis en Argentina; Argentina Fil: Santini, Maria Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Red de Investigación de Leishmaniasis en Argentina; Argentina. Dirección Nacional de Institutos de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud. Centro Nacional de Diagnóstico e Investigaciones Endemo-epidémicas; Argentina Fil: Pérez, A. A.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución; Argentina Fil: Salomón, Oscar Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Red de Investigación de Leishmaniasis en Argentina; Argentina. Ministerio de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical; Argentina