A multimodal bait for trapping blood-sucking arthropods
By Linda on Feb 12, 2011 in Infections
Excerpt:
Artificial baits constitute important tools for the detection and sampling
of blood-sucking arthropods, in particular those that are vectors of
parasites affecting human health. At present, many different devices have
been proposed to attract blood-sucking arthropods, mostly based on the
attractiveness of particular chemicals or blends. However, most of them
revealed themselves as unpractical (e.g. they require an electrical supply),
expensive (e.g. gas
bottles) or not efficient enough. On the other hand, the use of living baits
is as effective but it has practical constraints and/or raises ethical
questions.
We present here a multimodal lure to attract blood-sucking arthropods
designed taking into account both practical constraints and costs. The main
characteristics of our bait are: 1) artificiality (no living-host); 2)
multimodality (it associates heat, carbon dioxide and chemical attractants);
3) independency from any energy source; 4) no need for gas bottles; 5) easy
to prepare and use in the field; 6) low cost. We tested the ability of the
bait to attract blood-sucking arthropods in the laboratory and in the field,
using capture sticky-traps. Our bait evinced to be almost as efficient as
live hosts
(mice) for the capture of Chagas disease and Borrelia vectors in Bolivia.
The multimodal lure here presented is a generalist bait, i.e., effective for
attracting different haematophagous species. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier
B.V.
