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  • Title: Blackfly control: what choices after onchocerciasis?
    Author: Hougard JM, Agoua H, Yaméogo L, Akpoboua KL, Sékétéli A, Dadzie KY.
    Journal: World Health Forum; 1998; 19(3):281-4. PubMed ID: 9786050.
    Abstract:
    Blackflies are reappearing in areas of West Africa where they used to be controlled with insecticides because they were vectors of the parasite Onchocerca volvulus. Even though they no longer transmit onchocerciasis in these areas they can hinder optimal land use through their biting behaviour. The authors discuss the problems associated with resuming the use of insecticides to control the blackfly and recommend that ground treatment be restricted to areas where it is likely to be effective on a continuing basis. In communities lacking technical and financial resources the only alternative consists of individual protection through the use of repellents or protective clothing. Biting insects can be a major inconvenience to people and can even cripple socioeconomic development. Since the transmission of Onchocerca can be blocked by destroying the blackfly vector in its larval stage, blackfly control has been practiced in West Africa since 1975 at the regional level as part of the Onchocerciasis Control Program. Since development of the insect from egg to nymph rarely takes longer than 1 week, spraying is conducted at weekly intervals. Treatments are delivered mainly from the air due to the large number of breeding sites and the difficulty of reaching most of them overland. Vector control remains the preferred approach to onchocerciasis control in regions open to reinfection by blackflies from untreated areas in which the disease is hyperendemic. Aerial spraying, however, has ceased in regions where there is virtually no longer any risk of contracting onchocerciasis. Blackflies are therefore reappearing in areas of West Africa where they used to be controlled with insecticides. Even though these flies no longer transmit onchocerciasis in the areas, their biting behavior can thwart the optimal use of land. With certain exceptions, controlling blackflies is not necessarily the best way of ensuring the long-term development of areas freed from onchocerciasis. Since commercially available products, usually based upon pyrethroids, are too expensive for most communities concerned, and protective clothing is unfeasible due to their high cost and the tropical climate, an inventory of locally-used repellents is being prepared for use.
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