Appropriate technology for vector control: impregnated bed nets, polystyrene beads and fly traps

There are social, economic and entomological problems with conventional insecticidal spraying methods for vector control. There is therefore interest in alternative technologies, especially the impregnation of bed nets with pyrethroid insecticides against malaria vectors. This method is cheap, socially acceptable and effective where bed nets are already widely used and where malaria transmission is not very intense. In holoendemic areas, and where people consider bed nets unaffordable, there are still unanswered questions. Whether pyrethroid resistance will be selected in anophelines also deserves more attention than it has so far attracted. Where Culex mosquitoes breed in confined sites such as pit latrines, the application of floating layers of polystyrene beads is a long-lasting and effective control method. There is increasing evidence that house flies are important agents in the mechanical transmission of diarrhoea due to Shigella. Simple fly traps can be an effective way of controlling house fly populations and this deserves comprehensive testing in tropical countries.