Toxicological and entomological field evaluation of Mobam 2,3 and Abate 2,4 powders used as body louse toxicants (Anoplura: Pediculidae).

Abstract

Field tests were conducted at The Republic of Korea's Army Disciplinary Center, located at Pusan, from January to March 1970, to evaluate the louse toxicant properties of Mobam® (4-benzothienyl-N-methyl carbamate) and Abate® (0,0-dimethyl phosphorothioate 0,0 diester with 4,4’ thiodiphenol). Four hundrcd volunteers were divided into 4 groups of 100 men each, and the groups were subdivided into 2 units of 50 men. The test subjects in 1 unit of each group were treated with 56.7 g of appropriate material contained in plastic shakertop cans while test subjects in the other unit were treated using a power delouser which delivered an average of 33.9 g per man. The four 100-man groups received single applications, respectively, of formulations of 2% Mobam in pyrax powder, or 2% Abate in Pyrax powder, or 1% malathion in inert powder, or unformulated pyrax powder. Serum and whole blood cholinesterase as well as other clinical chemistry determinations were performed on the units treated with Abate, malathion, and untreated pyrax dispensed from shaker cans. Each of the formulated insecticides tested, whether dispensed from shaker cans or power delouser, gave 25 days protection. Reductions in louse populations averaged 98.2% for Mobam, 94.9% for Abate, and 92.6% for malathion. Lice removed from volunteers’ clothing were susceptible in laboratory tests to Mobam, Abate, and malathion, but were resistant to DDT and slightly tolerant to lindane. Evaluation of clinical chemistry data indicated no physiological abnormalities attributable to the Abate or malathion treatments.