Efficacy of Liquid Vaporizers in Household Mosquito Control

Abstract:
The employment of electrical vaporizers to reduce the inconveniences caused by the mosquitoes constitutes a habitual practice in the Spanish homes during the summer season. Though exist different systems, the most used is the device in which the insecticide is evaporated by warming. The active matters used in these devices are pyrethroids. According to the manufacturers, these devices generally keep his efficiency for 45 days if they are used in cycles of 8-10 hours/day. The present study evaluated the significant differences between different diffusers depending on the composition, the time of use and/or the position in the room. The efficiency has been estimated from the knock-down and the mortality. In addition, the evaluation included pesticide consumption during the previous warm-up phase and during the treatment phase, in order to be able to establish a relation between the values of the studied parameters and the product consumption. For it we have tested new diffusers and diffusers used for 120 hours and for 240 hours with the aim to establish if the time of use concerns the quantity of liberated pesticide and, in consequence, the knock-down and the mortality observed.