Preliminary field testing of a long-lasting insecticide-treated hammock against Anopheles gambiae and Mansonia spp. (Diptera: Culicidae) in West Africa

The efficacy of an experimental long-lasting insecticide-treated hammock (LLIH) with a long-lasting treated net used as a blanket and made of the same fabric (polyethylene) was tested in a concrete block experimental hut, against the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae s.l. and the arbovirus vectors and nuisance mosquitoes Mansonia africana (Theobald) and Mansonia uniformis (Theobald). The LLIH was treated with the pyrethroid insecticide permethrin. It was evaluated concurrently with ignited mosquito coils over 20 successive weeks. In total, 2,227 mosquitoes (130 An. gambiae and 2,097 Mansonia spp. ) corresponding to 27.8 mosquitoes per trap-night were collected in the untreated hut (control). The repellent effect of both coils and LLIH significantly reduced the number of mosquitoes entering the huts (35-60%). There was no significant difference between LLIH and mosquito coils in blood-feeding inhibition (93-97%) or in mortality (88-98%). The LLIH is more cost-effective and user-friendly than mosquito coils, which need to be replaced nightly to protect people sleeping indoors from mosquito bites. The effects of LLIH on exophagic vectors also need to be investigated because most people that sleep in hammocks are outdoors. © 2007 Entomological Society of America.