Phlebotomine sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) control using a residual pyrethroid insecticide.

Cyfluthrin was evaluated in the field as a residual insecticide to develop a new strategy for control of Old World phlebotomine sand fly vectors of leishmaniasis, which live and rest inside termite mounds and animal burrows. This insecticide was evaluated as a residual spray in Baringo District, Kenya, during 1993. Termite mounds and animal burrows were treated with a cyfluthrin/corn oil mixture (1.5% AI) using an 8-liter hand-pumped sprayer. Treatment of animal burrows and termite mounds with cyfluthrin provided control of sand flies inside these structures for 12 wk. Numbers of sand fly adults collected in light traps were reduced by up to 90% for 2 wk following treatment. This indicates that cyfluthrin provides short-term area control of adult sand flies when applied to termite mounds and animal burrows.