Evaluation of a New Thermal Fog Machine for Control of Adult Aedes albopictus in a Large Enclosed Space.

Abstract

Testing of the PSO BASDKA-AC1200 multifunction ultrafine particle atomization machine, a thermal fog machine, with Aqualuer 20-20(®) (permethrin 20.6%, piperonyl butoxide 20.6%) was conducted against Aedes albopictus. The machine was set at a 40 sec maximum burst interval dispersing 36 ml of chemical with an average droplet volume of 50%. Female adult Ae. albopictus were placed into cylindrical paper cages and adhered to poles at 5, 8, 10, 15, and 25 m from the center point of the machine. Control cages consisted of 1 cage placed at 5, 10, and 25 m. Control and treatment groups were left in the experiment area for 15 min. Initial knockdown after 15 min and 24 h mortality were documented. At 15 min post-treatment, Ae. albopictus displayed less than 50% knockdown. After 24 h, all treatment cages displayed greater than 90% mortality. Further bottle bioassays were conducted to determine the lowest chemical dose possible to achieve a lethal dose of 90%. A 1% dilution (10 ml Aqualuer 20-20 to 1,000 ml of polyether) of Aqualuer showed high mortality in the laboratory. However, after running 3 repetitions of a 1% dilution, there was no significant difference between the mortality of the mosquitoes at any of the distances 24 h post-treatment. This study indicates that the test machine would be an applicable and suitable machine for control of Ae. albopictus in enclosed spaces.