Insecticide-treated house screening protects against Zika-infected Aedes aegypti in Merida, Mexico

25.01.21
Pablo Manrique-SaideID, Josue´ Herrera-Bojo´ rquez, Anuar Medina-Barreiro, Emilio Trujillo-Peña, Josue´ Villegas-Chim, Nina Valadez-Gonza´lez, Ahmed M.M. Ahmed, Hugo Delfı´n-Gonza´lez, Jorge Palacio-Vargas, Azael Che-Mendoza, Norma Pavı´a-Ruz, Adriana E. Flores, Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec
Background The integration of house-screening and long-lasting insecticidal nets, known as insecticidetreated screening (ITS), can provide simple, safe, and low-tech Aedes aegypti control. Cluster randomised controlled trials in two endemic localities for Ae. aegypti of south Mexico, showed that ITS conferred both, immediate and sustained (~2 yr) impact on indoor-female Ae. aegypti infestations. Such encouraging results require further validation with studies quantifying more epidemiologically-related endpoints, including arbovirus infection in Ae. aegypti. We evaluated the efficacy of protecting houses with ITS on Ae. aegypti infestation and arbovirus infection during a Zika outbreak in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.