Absence Of Flies Research Articles

Community toilets management strategies in promotion of public hygiene in municipality ward of Meru, Kenya

Rapid population growth has significantly contributed to inadequate sanitation facilities especially in slums. The inadequacy in sanitation facilities results to poor hygiene thus promote spread of sanitation-related diseases such as diarrhea. This study investigated sanitation management strategies for promotion of public hygiene in slums. Three slums in Meru Municipality ward, namely, Mjini, Shauri Yako, and Majengo were identified as the target population for the study. Mixed methods approach was adopted in sampling. Each slum was treated as a cluster. Data was collected from 79 heads of households within the clusters and 5 key informants from the Municipality ward who included a municipal manager, assistant chief, Public Health Officer, MEWASS director, and Caritas director. The heads of the households were proportionally selected randomly from the clusters as determined using Fisher’s formula. Qualitative data was collected from the key informants. Quantitative data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPPS) version 25 to generate frequency tables while qualitative data was presented thematically. The findings showed poor sanitation and hygiene status of the slum dwellers due to the lack of good sanitation facilities that could enable them dispose their excreta effectively. The study showed that 86% of the slum population did not access adequate sanitation facilities where 5.1% used flying toilets and other 1.3% used bucket latrines. The correlation between comfortability of toilet users and the use of toilets with flies and odour was 0.351(P=0.000) thus comfortability to use sanitation facilities in the slums depended on the status of the toilets. The correlation between presence of caretakers for slum toilets and maintenance of toilets was 0.478 with a p-value of 0.000. The correlation between willingness to pay for sanitation services and the type of toilets provided was 0.094 (p=0.035). Presence of flush water and absence of flies in toilets registered a correlation coefficient of 0.350 (p=0.000). The study recommended consideration of better strategies to enhance better living conditions amongst the slum dwellers lacking access to adequate sanitation services. Further, the government need to put in place policies and regulations to ensure adequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene to the slum dwellers.

Sensitivities to Chill Durations and No-Chill Temperatures Regulating Eclosion Responses Differ Between Rhagoletis zephyria (Diptera: Tephritidae) and its Braconid Parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).

Seasonal temperatures select for eclosion timing of temperate insects and their parasitoids. In western North America, the fruit fly Rhagoletis zephyria Snow (Diptera: Tephritidae) is parasitized by the hymenopterous wasps Utetes lectoides (Gahan), an egg parasite, and Opius downesi Gahan, a larval parasite (both Braconidae). Eclosion of wasps should be timed with the presence of susceptible fly stages, but reports indicate U. lectoides ecloses in the absence of flies under no-chill conditions. Based on this, we tested the hypotheses that chill durations and no-chill temperatures both differentially regulate eclosion times of R. zephyria and its parasitic wasps. When fly puparia were chilled at ~3°C for 130-180 d, U. lectoides and O. downesi always eclosed on average later than flies. However, after 180-d chill, flies eclosed on average earlier than after 130- and 150-d chill, whereas eclosion times of U. lectoides and O. downesi were less or not affected by chill duration. When fly puparia were exposed to 20-22°C (no chill), U. lectoides eclosed before flies, with 88.9% of U. lectoides versus only 0.61% of flies eclosing. Taken together, findings show that eclosion times of flies are more sensitive to changes in chill duration than those of wasps. Flies are less sensitive than wasps to no-chill in that most flies do not respond by eclosing after no-chill while most wasps do. Our results suggest that shorter winters and longer summers due to climate change could cause mismatches in eclosion times of flies and wasps, with potentially significant evolutionary consequences.

A Brief Review on the Prevalence, Diagnosis Prevention of Infectious Bovine Keratoconjuctivitis

This seminar review is aimed to provide information about the IBK which results in ocular pain and loss of vision that would result in the reduction of the market price of the affected animal. Infectious Bovine Keratoconjuctivitis (IBK) or ‘pink eye’ is a common and highly contagious ocular disease. The disease is caused by the bacteria family Moraxellaceae, genus Moraxella and species Moraxella bovis. M. bovis is a gram-negative rod. The occurrence and distribution of the disease are worldwide and the persistence of the disease from year to year is by means of infected animals, which can act as carriers. Transmission is unusual in the absence of flies and occurs generally in their presence. A number of factors such as tall grass, weeds, dust, face flies and ultraviolet radiation, and other stress factors contribute to the disease occurrence. The pathogenesis of IBK is likely associated with collagenase release from epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and neutrophils. Hydrolytic enzymes of M. bovis possess the ability to degrade lipids, mucopolysaccharides, and matrix proteins, which may contribute to corneal ulceration. The first signs of pinkeye are characterized by excessive tearing, blinking, photophobia, and swelling of the eyelids and conjunctiva. As the disease progresses, the ocular discharge becomes purulent. The disease is usually diagnosed with clinical signs like excessive lacrimation and culturing of the bacteria from ocular exudates. IBK is differentially diagnosed from M. bovis, Pasteurella multocida, IBRT, and Thelaziasis. Drugs may be delivered to the eye in several ways: subconjunctival injection, topical application, and systemic administration to treat the diseases. Vaccination and fly control are some of the prevention and control measures. This disease is economically very important which causes severe ocular disorder in cattle which may result in the suffering of the animal from pain and loss of vision thereby economic loss due to bodyweight loss by the stress from pain, inability to feed properly, and the blindness that reduces the price of sale. Therefore, it is recommended that the susceptible cattle should be housed to avoid exposure to UV radiation and the populations of face flies should be controlled to minimize the incidence and transmission of IBK.

Growth and yield of self-compatible and hybrid common buckwheat lines pollinated with and without flies

Common buckwheat is a self-incompatible, insect-pollinated allogamous plant. This study examined growth and yield of the common buckwheat self-compatible and hybrid lines pollinated with and without flies. Self-compatible ‘IH3’, hybrid ‘IP2/IH3’, and standard self-incompatible ‘Kitawasesoba’ were used in field and pot experiments. Self-compatibility of ‘IH3’ was shown to be of high purity. Approximately 10% segregation of pin plants from ‘IP2/IH3’ was observed. The harvest index of ‘Kitawasesoba’ pollinated without flies was considerably lower than that pollinated with flies in both field and pot experiments. The harvest index values of ‘IH3’ and ‘IP2/IH3’ were hardly affected by the presence or absence of flies. The morphological traits of ‘IH3’ were significantly lower than those of the other two genotypes. Large differences in these traits between ‘IP2/IH3’ and ‘Kitawasesoba’ were not observed in either the field or pot experiments. The seed yield of ‘Kitawasesoba’ pollinated without flies tended to be lower than that pollinated with flies. The seed yield of ‘IP2/IH3’ tended to be higher than that of ‘IH3’. The hybrid line ‘IP2/IH3’ showed a high fertilization rate, which was nearly as high as that of ‘IH3’. Rate of fertilization and percentage of ripe seeds were higher in ‘IH3’ and ‘IP2/IH3’, wherein they were hardly affected by the presence or absence of flies, than in ‘Kitawasesoba’. The ‘IP2/IH3’ hybrid line will be useful for understanding the stable high-yielding ability of self-compatibility common buckwheat.

Persistence and efficacy of a Beauveria bassiana biopesticide against the house fly, Musca domestica, on typical structural substrates of poultry houses

Entomopathogenic fungi, such as Beauveria bassiana, offer potential for use as biopesticides for control of house flies in poultry production facilities. This study evaluates persistence and efficacy of oil-formulated B. bassiana conidia against adult house flies on a range of structural substrates commonly found in poultry houses. Exposure of flies to fungal-treated surfaces produced high levels of infection leading up to 100% mortality in 6–10 days. However, the infectivity of the spray residues declined rapidly within 1 or 2 weeks following repeated fly exposures. Investigations showed that, in the absence of flies, conidia remained viable on test surfaces for up to 3 months regardless of substrate type, application method or fungal production batch. Rather, it was the presence of flies themselves that was responsible for reducing persistence. The exact mechanisms remain unclear but involve a combination of physical removal and chemical deactivation, with decay rates increasing at higher fly densities. While the rapid decay could pose a challenge for operational use, the results suggest it might be possible to tailor treatment frequencies to fly densities with, for example, weekly applications at high fly densities and longer intervals when populations decline. Further research is needed to determine persistence in semifield and field settings and to quantify the influence of fly densities under natural exposure conditions.

The importance of flower visitors not predicted by floral syndromes

Flower visitors that do not fit a perceived floral syndrome are often over-looked and deemed unimportant. In Tritoniopsis revoluta, an irid with a very long corolla tube conforming to the long proboscid fly pollination syndrome, we determine visitation rates of bees and long proboscid flies, as well as ascertain whether bees could be important pollen vectors in this system. We confirmed the presence of extremely long proboscid Prosoeca longipennis flies in one T. revoluta population, but found that fly visitation was absent in most populations. Instead, we found that in the absence of flies, nectar wells up the corolla tubes and becomes accessible to Amegilla bees, which were the most frequent visitors to T. revoluta at most sites and carried pollen, suggesting they could effect pollination. The highest bee visitation rates were in T. revoluta populations with unusually short tubed plants, where nectar was more accessible than in plants with long corolla tubes. Short tubed populations with more bee activity had higher average seed set than long tubed populations, suggesting that bees might contribute significantly to fitness in this apparently long-proboscid fly pollinated plant. Although these results do not support the use of syndromes for predicting all of a flower's important pollinators, they do support the idea that floral morphology will be shaped by the most effective pollinators at the time.

Field Evaluation of Repellents and Insecticidal Aerosol Compositions for Repelling and Control of Siphunculina funicola (Diptera: Chloropidae) on Aggregation Sites in Thailand

The oriental eye fly Siphunculina funicola, a small member (1.5-1.6 mm) of the family Chloropidae, is extremely annoying to humans and domestic animals, feeding on mucous membranes, secretions, and other moist surfaces of their hosts. In central Thailand heavy populations were detected during 2006-2007 in some rural, agricultural, and periurban areas of the region. They were noted to exhibit strong synanthropy and aggregation behavior, congregating on thin (1-5 mm diam) substrates hanging in or near human habitations and animal shelters and other structures open on one or more sides. We initiated studies on the repelling and control of this eye fly at their aggregation sites, the most vulnerable targets near or in human habitations. Four formulations of repellents consisting of Everside, 3 fatty acids (with 8, 9, and 10 carbons), permethrin, and the acids C8910 plus permethrin in Everside were diluted 1:3 in tap water and sprayed on to the aggregation sites. Prior to treatment all sites including controls were disturbed to dislodge eye flies, and then the blank sites were sprayed with the aqueous suspension of the repellents. Additionally, we evaluated 3 commercially available household insecticidal aerosol formulations by treating eye flies and their resting sites (without dislodging the flies) with puffs of the aerosols. Two treatments with permethrin alone and permethrin plus acids in Nakhorn Ratchasima Province caused a complete absence of flies from the sites up to 23 h. After treatment with the repellents, the repelled flies and others were found to congregate on untreated favorable sites close to the treated ones. The repellents tested against eye flies in Chonburi Province at 2 locations caused almost complete absence of this insect on aggregation sites up to 120 h. Three household insecticide aerosols applied to aggregation sites with resting and hovering eye flies produced high to complete mortality and reduction of eye flies for 48 h or possibly longer in the treated sites. This is the first time that procedures for the evaluation of repellents and insecticides against eye flies have been tested and developed. The use of commonly available insecticide aerosol products could provide a good source of materials for the elimination of eye flies from their domestic and peridomestic aggregation sites.

Zero catch criteria for declaring eradication of tephritid fruit flies: the probabilities

We examine procedures for declaring an area free of pest fruit flies following an eradication campaign. To date, the acceptable period of trapping zero flies has been calculated without an estimate of the probability of being wrong. The zero trapping periods are usually shorter when declaring local ‘area freedom’ from an endemic fly, than when claiming eradication of an exotic species. We use a model to calculate the probability of zero trap captures and therefore the probability of trapping further flies. The latter probability is always finite. A zero trapping result does not indicate the absence of flies. There must also be evidence of what constitutes a non-viable density, as indicated by the trapping rate. The non-viable densities of certain pest fruit fly species are known from decades of managing small incursions in fly-free zones. There is no need for implementation of eradication procedures if the trapping rate is sufficiently low, in these areas. For a given density of flies (defined in terms of expected mean catch per trap per week), the probability of zero trap captures reduces with time and the number of traps employed. If the model calculations use a non-sustainable density (inferred from trapping rate) then we may declare the actual density of flies to be less if the trapping result is zero for a given number of weeks with a given number of traps when the model predicts the probability of such a result to be sufficiently low, according to a criterion that is selected at a level suited to the purpose of the declaration.

Efficacy of Sterile Releases of Caribbean Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) against Wild Populations in Urban Hosts Adjacent to Commercial Citrus

The sterile male release technique was tested either as an alternative to fumigation or as a supplement to a fly-free management program in 1988 for control of the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew). The test area consisted of 19-28 sq. kilometers with a corresponding non-sterile fly release area. Releases began in January, 1988, and continued generally through June 1990. Efficacy was measured by determining the presence or absence of flies using an aggressive trapping program. Suppression of wild A. suspensa in the first year could not be measured easily but, by the end of the third year, measurable reduction was evident.