Effect of Lures and Trap Placement on Sand Fly and Mosquito Traps

Abstract:
Catches of mosquitoes and sand flies in CO2 traps baited with three different lures and an unbaited control were compared. The lures examined were carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide plus 1-octen-3-ol, and carbon dioxide plus human hair in ethanol. Studies using a 4 x 4 Latin square design, with 3 sets of 4 consecutive trap nights, were conducted between August 6 and September 10, 2007. The study site was the Bahrif Village, Aswan, Egypt. This location had high percentage of Phlebotomus papatasi in sand fly populations, and the low incidence of human cases of leishmaniasis. There were 2,152 sand flies caught over the 12 total nights (48 trap-nights) of this study. Mean numbers of sand flies captured in traps baited with any lure were significantly greater than sand those caught in the unbaited control trap. The mean numbers of sand flies trapped using each lure did not differ significantly.