The importance of vector control for the control and elimination of vector-borne diseases

Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) such as malaria, dengue, and leishmaniasis exert a huge burden of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly affecting the poorest of the poor. The principal method by which these diseases are controlled is through vector control, which has a long and distinguished history. Vector control, to a greater extent than drugs or vaccines, has been responsible for shrinking the map of many VBDs. Here, we describe the history of vector control programmes worldwide from the late 1800s to date. Pre 1940, vector control relied on a thorough understanding of vector ecology and epidemiology, and implementation of environmental management tailored to the ecology and behaviour of local vector species. This complex understanding was replaced by a simplified dependency on a handful of insecticide-based tools, particularly for malaria control, without an adequate understanding of entomology and epidemiology and without proper monitoring and evaluation. With the rising threat from insecticide-resistant vectors, global environmental change, and the need to incorporate more vector control interventions to eliminate these diseases, we advocate for continued investment in evidence-based vector control. There is a need to return to vector control approaches based on a thorough knowledge of the determinants of pathogen transmission, which utilise a range of insecticide and non-insecticide-based approaches in a locally tailored manner for more effective and sustainable vector control.

History of the International Organization for Biological Control Global Working Group on Mass Rearing and Quality Assurance

The International Organization for Biological Control Global Working Group on Mass Rearing and Quality Assurance (MRQA) was established in 1980 as the Working Group on Quality Control (WGQC) to assure success of insect mass rearing for pest management that was being developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Due mostly to the efforts of WGQC, quality control became institutionalized in several insect mass rearing facilities during the 1980s. After addressing autocidal control programs, the WGQC concentrated on entomophagous insects, especially testing the quality of commercial biological control products. Universal Implementation of Quality Control for Mass-Reared Arthropods was finally achieved in the 1990s, having encompassed all aspects from insect production to field application and evaluation. This increased scope prompted a name change from WGQC to Arthropod Mass Rearing and Quality Control (AMRQC). Subsequently, the scope of the Working Group was expanded again and it was renamed MRQA to include a range of applications for mass-reared beneficial invertebrates. The geographic range of MRQA recently was extended beyond North and South America and Europe to include India. This expansion continued as insects for food and feed, networking and instruction, and legal and ethical issues were added to the most recent workshop held in Mexico. Thus, the MRQA continues to evolve as additional invertebrate organisms are mass produced for both established and novel applications.

Development of Baits for Population Management of Subterranean Termites

The objective of bait application envisioned by early researchers was to eliminate the source of infestation, the colony, but because of the lack of adequate evaluation tools, results of field trials with mirex baits in the 1960s were mostly inconclusive. On-the-ground monitoring stations and mark-recapture protocol developed in the 1970s marked the turning point in the field studies of termite baits. Results of field studies with metabolic inhibitors and chitin synthesis inhibitors (CSIs) in the 1990s indicated that a bait toxicant has to be slow-acting and nonrepellent, and its lethal time has to be dose independent. A recent discovery that termites return to the central nest to molt and CSI-poisoned termites die near the royal pair further explains the success of CSI baits in eliminating colonies. Owing to the availability of durable baits that require less-frequent site inspection, more termite control professionals have adopted baiting systems in recent years.

An Unlikely Beginning: A Fortunate Life

Elizabeth A. Bernays grew up in Australia and studied at the University of Queensland before traveling in Europe and teaching high school in London. She later obtained a PhD in entomology at London University. Then, as a British government scientist, she worked in England and in developing countries on a variety of projects concerned with feeding by herbivorous insects and their physiology and behavior. In 1983, she was appointed professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where her research expanded to a variety of topics, all related to the physiology, behavior, and ecology of feeding in insects. She was awarded a DSc from the University of London, and at about the same time became head of the Department of Entomology and regents' professor at the University of Arizona. In Arizona, most of her research involved multiple approaches to the understanding of diet breadth in a variety of phytophagous insect species.

Past, Present, and Future of Integrated Control of Apple Pests: The New Zealand Experience

This review describes the New Zealand apple industry's progression from 1960s integrated pest control research to today's comprehensive integrated pest management system. With the exception of integrated mite control implemented during the 1980s, pest control on apple crops was dominated by intensive organophosphate insecticide regimes to control tortricid leafrollers. Multiple pest resistances to these insecticides by the 1990s, and increasing consumer demand for lower pesticide residues on fruit, led to the implementation of integrated fruit production. This substantially eliminated organophosphate insecticide use by 2001, replacing it with pest monitoring systems, threshold-based selective insecticides, and biological control. More recently, new demands for ultralow-residue fruit have increased the adoption of mating disruption and use of biological insecticides. Widespread adoption of selective pest management has substantially reduced the status of previously important pests, including leafrollers, mealybugs, leafhoppers, and mites for improved phytosanitary performance, and contributed to major reductions in total insecticide use.

African trypanosomiasis

Trypanosomiasis remains one of the most serious constraints to economic development in sub-Saharan Africa and, as a consequence, related research has been subject to strong social and political as well as scientific influences. The epidemics of sleeping sickness that occurred at the turn of the 20th Century focussed research efforts on what became known as 'the colonial disease'. This focus is thought to have produced 'vertical' health services aimed at this one disease, while neglecting other important health issues. Given the scale of these epidemics, and the fact that the disease is fatal if left untreated, it is unsurprising that sleeping sickness dominated colonial medicine. Indeed, recent evidence indicates that, if anything, the colonial authorities greatly under-estimated the mortality attributable to sleeping sickness. Differences in approach to disease control between Francophone and Anglophone Africa, which in the past have been considered ideological, on examination prove to be logical, reflecting the underlying epidemiological divergence of East and West Africa. These epidemiological differences are ancient in origin, pre-dating the colonial period, and continue to the present day. Recent research has produced control solutions, for the African trypanosomiases of humans and livestock, that are effective, affordable and sustainable by small-holder farmers. Whether these simple solutions are allowed to fulfil their promise and become fully integrated into agricultural practice remains to be seen. After more than 100 years of effort, trypanosomiasis control remains a controversial topic, subject to the tides of fashion and politics.

Insect control in socialist China and the corporate United States: the act of comparison, the tendency to forget, and the construction of difference in 1970s U.S.-Chinese scientific exchange

In 1975, a delegation of U.S. entomologists traveled to socialist China to observe Chinese insect control science. Their overwhelmingly positive reports highlighted in relief the pernicious effects of pesticide corporations on U.S. agriculture; some entomologists hoped this would goad the United States to catch up to China in environmentally sensible insect control practices. Of course, insect control in socialist China carried its own political baggage, some of which-for example, mass mobilization and self-reliance--the state made highly visible to visitors, and some of which--for example, harsh treatment of scientists--it sought to obscure. For both the U.S. and the Chinese participants, the act of comparison itself was of primary significance in the exchange, allowing them to construct socialist Chinese science as refreshingly different from U.S. science. At the same time, however, this construction of difference meant forgetting the much longer transnational history in which U.S. and Chinese entomology had been intertwined.

Cultural diabrotica containment strategy in Switzerland: until now a convincing success story

Ever since 2000 Switzerland belongs to the 22 European countries where the quarantine pest Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, Western corn rootworm (WCR), has been detected. It is reported to be the most important maizepest worldwide with an economic damage reaching 1.5 billion US$. In Switzerland it is constantly present in the southern part of the Alps while only few beetles are sporadically found in the northern part. Observations from 2000 up to 2012 support the hypothesis that the populations in the southern part of the Alps are generated by yearly migrations from principal foci situated in neighbouring Italian areas of Lombardy. Neither the tight correlation between travel distance and time of first arrival at various points from South to North, nor the steady decline of population along the route can be explained otherwise. Control measures enacted by Swiss authorities were principally based on a tightly enforced crop rotation scheme without chemical inputs as usually practiced in parts of the European Union. The effectiveness of crop rotation has been tested in a 5 year field trial comparing a continuous maize cropping system with a croprotation system and a maximum of one year of maizewithin a two year period (1:1). Population density was measured using synthetic pheromone baited traps and observations of root damage. Results showed that no economically relevant population built up during this period in the crop rotation treatment, whereas in the statistical evaluation of continuous maizecropping root damages could be detected after 4 years. One to one (1:1) year crop rotations are a common practice since 2001 in Southern Switzerland and are well accepted by farmers. Consequently, not a gram of pesticide has been employed against WCR in Switzerland up to now. The low level population density also helped to avoid the introduction of WCR populations into Cantons north of the Alps and thus prevented further spreading towards the state territories of northern neighbours.

A history of chagas disease transmission, control, and re-emergence in peri-rural La Joya, Peru

Background

The history of Chagas disease control in Peru and many other nations is marked by scattered and poorly documented vector control campaigns. The complexities of human migration and sporadic control campaigns complicate evaluation of the burden of Chagas disease and dynamics of Trypanosoma cruzi transmission.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We conducted a cross-sectional serological and entomological study to evaluate temporal and spatial patterns of T. cruzi transmission in a peri-rural region of La Joya, Peru. We use a multivariate catalytic model and Bayesian methods to estimate incidence of infection over time and thereby elucidate the complex history of transmission in the area. Of 1,333 study participants, 101 (7.6%; 95% CI: 6.2–9.0%) were confirmed T. cruzi seropositive. Spatial clustering of parasitic infection was found in vector insects, but not in human cases. Expanded catalytic models suggest that transmission was interrupted in the study area in 1996 (95% credible interval: 1991–2000), with a resultant decline in the average annual incidence of infection from 0.9% (95% credible interval: 0.6–1.3%) to 0.1% (95% credible interval: 0.005–0.3%). Through a search of archival newspaper reports, we uncovered documentation of a 1995 vector control campaign, and thereby independently validated the model estimates.

Conclusions/Significance

High levels of T. cruzi transmission had been ongoing in peri-rural La Joya prior to interruption of parasite transmission through a little-documented vector control campaign in 1995. Despite the efficacy of the 1995 control campaign, T. cruzi was rapidly reemerging in vector populations in La Joya, emphasizing the need for continuing surveillance and control at the rural-urban interface.

The historically rural problem of Chagas disease is increasing in urban areas in Latin America. Peri-rural development may play a critical role in the urbanization of Chagas disease and other parasitic infections. We conducted a cross-sectional study in an urbanizing rural area in southern Peru, and we encountered a complex history of Chagas disease in this peri-rural environment. Specifically, we discovered: (1) long-standing parasite transmission leading to substantial burden of infection; (2) interruption in parasite transmission resulting from an undocumented insecticide application campaign; (3) relatively rapid re-emergence of parasite-infected vector insects resulting from an unsustained control campaign; (4) extensive migration among peri-rural inhabitants. Long-standing parasite infection in peri-rural areas with highly mobile populations provides a plausible mechanism for the expansion of parasite transmission to nearby urban centers. Lack of commitment to control campaigns in peri-rural areas may have unforeseen and undesired consequences for nearby urban centers. Novel methods and perspectives are needed to address the complexities of human migration and erratic interventions.

Michael Elliott's billion dollar crystals and other discoveries in insecticide chemistry

The crowning achievement for Michael Elliott came in 1973 when his most outstanding candidate insecticide from 25 years of research crystallized from hexane solution. The stereochemically pure crystalline compound was the most potent synthetic insecticide ever made until that time, and it was highly selective for insects compared with mammals. It was given the name deltamethrin. Sequential stereospecific crystallization to isolate the most potent epimer and base-catalyzed racemization of the remaining less active isomer could be used to produce deltamethrin efficiently on a large scale; it became the billion dollar crystals. Elliott's discoveries at Rothamsted in England with Norman Janes and David Pulman of resmethrin, permethrin, cypermethrin and ultimately deltamethrin provided crop protection and malaria control for millions of people. Michael also laid the background for lipophilic amide, dithiane and other insecticides and nerve probes that are not involved in pyrethroid cross-resistance. Some aspects of these investigations were best conducted at Berkeley, where Michael studied pyrethrins in 1969, synthetic pyrethroids in 1974 and alternative insecticides in 1986-1988. This review considers Michael's seminal discoveries in insecticide chemistry, with emphasis on his Berkeley years.

Fifty years of the integrated control concept: the role of landscape ecology in IPM in San Joaquin valley cotton

In defining the integrated control concept, Stern, Smith, van den Bosch and Hagan described 'understanding the ecosystem' as a key underpinning of the concept. In following years, Stern and van den Bosch continued to refine and expand the role of the ecological landscape. They and their colleagues developed cultural practices that took advantage of this understanding to limit the need of pesticide intervention in cotton in the San Joaquin Valley during the 1960s and 1970s. Research and extension activities in the intervening years built upon those fundamental concepts using geospatial tools and analytical techniques to refine current understanding and develop ecological landscape level approaches to manage Lygus hesperus (Knight) in San Joaquin Valley cotton, Gossypium hirsutum (L.) and more recently G. barbadense (L.). The result has been a significant drop in insecticide use against L. hesperus, with less than one application per season during the 1990 s and early 2000s.

IPM for fresh-market lettuce production in the desert southwest: the produce paradox

In the 'Integrated Control Concept', Stern et al. emphasized that, although insecticides are necessary for agricultural production, they should only be used as a last resort and as a complement to biological control. They argued that selective insecticide use should only be attempted after it has been determined that insect control with naturally occurring biotic agents is not capable of preventing economic damage. However, they concluded their seminal paper by emphasizing that integrated control will not work where natural enemies are inadequate or where economic thresholds are too low to rely on biological control. Thus, it is no surprise that insect control in high-value, fresh-market lettuce crops grown in the desert southwest have relied almost exclusively on insecticides to control a complex of mobile, polyphagous pests. Because lettuce and leafy greens are short-season annual crops with little or no tolerance for insect damage or contamination, biological control is generally considered unacceptable. High expectations from consumers for aesthetically appealing produce free of pesticide residues further forces vegetable growers to use chemical control tactics that are not only effective but safe. Consequently, scientists have been developing integrated pest management (IPM) programs for lettuce that are aimed at reducing the economic, occupational and dietary risks associated with chemical controls of the past. Most of these programs have drawn upon the integrated control concept and promote the importance of understanding the agroecosystem, and the need to sample for pest status and use action thresholds for cost-effective insect control. More recently, pest management programs have implemented newly developed, reduced-risk chemistries that are selectively efficacious against key pests. This paper discusses the influence that the integrated control concept, relative to zero-tolerance market standards and other constraints, has had on the adoption of pest management in desert lettuce crops.

"The horizon opened up very greatly": Leland O. Howard and the transition to chemical insecticides in the United States, 1894-1927

The transition to synthetic chemicals as a popular method of insect control in the United States was one of the most critical developments in the history of American agriculture. Historians of agriculture have effectively identified the rise and charted the dominance of early chemical insecticides as they came to define commercial agriculture between the emergence of Paris green in the 1870s and the popularity of DDT in the 1940s and beyond. Less understood, however, are the underlying mechanics of this transition. this article thus takes up the basic question of how farmers and entomologists who were once dedicated to an impressively wide range of insect control options ultimately settled on the promise of a chemically driven approach to managing destructive insects. Central to this investigation is an emphasis on the bureaucratic maneuverings of Leland O. Howard, who headed the Bureau of Entomology from 1894 to 1927. Like most entomologists of his era, Howard was theoretically interested in pursuing a wide variety of control methods--biological, chemical, and cultural included. In the end, however, he employed several tactics to streamline the government's efforts to almost exclusively support arsenic and lead-based chemical insecticides as the most commercially viable form of insect control. While Howard in no way "caused" the national turn to chemicals, this article charts the pivotal role he played in fostering that outcome.

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane usage in the former Soviet Union

DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), an organochlorine pesticide (OCP), is one of 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that is being proposed for elimination or control under the Stockholm Convention on POPs. This paper presents historical DDT usage in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) from different sources. Although the data from different sources do not agree with each other, the data clearly show that the usage of DDT in the FSU were intensive in the 1950s and 1960s, and the use of DDT continued until early 1990s although DDT was officially banned in 1969/1970 by the FSU government. Two estimations (high and low) are made for the historical annual DDT usage in the FSU. The total DDT usage in the FSU from 1946 and 1990 was 520 kt for the high estimation and 250 kt for the low estimation. Gridded DDT usage inventories in the FSU on a 1 degree longitude by 1 degree latitude grid system are created by using the gridded distribution of cropland density for the FSU, and show that DDT usage varied considerably across the FSU. Most DDT was applied in southern regions of the FSU where agricultural activity was greatest, such as in Moldova and Ukraine followed by the Northern Caucasus region of Russia and the Central Asian republics.

Hexachlorocyclohexane use in the former Soviet Union

Because of the large size of the former Soviet Union (FSU) and the heavy use of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in the FSU, usage information regarding OCPs in the FSU is important in compiling global emission inventories and thus in studying the transport of OCPs among different environmental compartments worldwide. The availability of such information is limited. By analyzing the available 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) data in the FSU, this article presents estimates of HCH usage in this region from 1950 to 1990, when HCH was officially banned for agricultural use by the FSU government. The creation of HCH usage inventories for the FSU has paved the way to produce HCH emission inventories for this region. Total HCH usages for agricultural purposes in the FSU from 1950 to 1990 were estimated to be 1,960 kt for technical HCH and 40 kt for lindane. The total usage for the isomers was 270 kt for gamma-HCH, 1,270 kt for alpha-HCH, and 170 kt for beta-HCH. Use of HCH reached a peak in 1965: 130 kt for technical HCH, 2.7 kt for lindane, 18 kt for gamma-HCH, 86 kt for alpha-HCH, and 11 kt for beta-HCH. Gridded usage data sets in the FSU of technical HCH and lindane-and the alpha-HCH, beta-HCH and gamma-HCH isomers-on a 1degree x 1degree longitude and latitude grid system for 1980 are freely available to all users at http://www.msc.ec.gc.ca/data/gloperd/.

[The history of the flea in art and literature]

The flea has been, indirectly, one of the protagonists in the history of man. As one of the two vectors of Yersinia pestis, the etiological agents of the Black Death, the flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) has contributed, over the centuries, to the death of millions of people in many countries. Galileo Galilei was the first to observe the flea with a microscope (1624), but the credit of depicting it with a stunning drawing goes to the Britisher Robert Hooke in 1665. A number of zoologists, including Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek and Diacinto Cestoni, well described and illustrated the life cycle of the flea in the XVII century. Some of these reports inspired scholars such as J. Swift and J. Donne for the composition of classic poems. Also, the flea, alone and with its hosts, has inspired a number of artists to create fine paintings; among them: G. M. Crespi, G. B. Piazzetta, G. de la Tour and others. Colorful sonnets on the flea in the Roman dialect were written by G. Belli and Trilussa. The flea also, as a theme, inspired musicians such as G. F. Ghedini and M. Mussorgsky, play writers such as Feydeau and moviemakers such as Charlie Chaplin. The flea is, indissolubly, connected with the history of Black Death. This disease in man is, in fact, caused--as demonstrated by Yersin and Simond--by the triad: bacterium (Yersinia pestis)/rat/flea (Xenopsylla cheopis). Over the centuries, Black Death has had a deep impact on both the visual arts and literature and, as a result, a very large number of paintings and other works of art have been produced to remember these tragic episodes. In the field of literature, Black Death has been skillfully described by writers such as Boccaccio, Manzoni and Camus. Finally, in recent years, following the discovery of the existence of a large market for the control of fleas in small animals, the interest in this minute insect has been resurrected and, parallel to that, the rebirth of the flea iconography, through electromicroscopy, has also taken place.

[Camphor in the Edo era (4) moth repellent, deodorant, and fungicide]

A troublesome task in the daily life of the Edo era was ridding houses of harmful insects such as mosquitoes, fleas and clothes moths. People commonly drove away mosquitoes by making smoke. They hung their clothes or books in the air to keep them free from moisture. This was effective in protecting them from becoming moldy or being damaged by insects. Various medicinal plants were used to eliminate harmful house insects or agricultural vermin. Camphor was a variety of insecticide, but it was not popular in early Edo times because it was not easily available then. But in the end of Edo period, camphor became popular as a moth repellent.

Edward F. Knipling: titan and driving force in ecologically selective area-wide pest management

Few entomologists have impacted insect pest management as profoundly as Edward F Knipling (1909-2000). During WWII, Knipling and his colleagues developed highly effective measures to protect both military personnel and civilian populations from major arthropod-borne diseases. The sterile insect technique was Knipling's conception, and he successfully guided its development and use against the screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel, and against various other pests. He inspired and guided the development of a wide range of ecologically selective methods of insect detection and suppression. Knipling became a leading proponent and theoretician of area-wide pest management and of the design of systems of pest population suppression to achieve synergism between control methods efficient at high pest population densities and those efficient at low densities. Knipling was convinced that many pest problems could be met without harm to the environment by the area-wide application of systems including the augmentation of natural enemies.

Introduction--the methyl parathion story: a chronicle of misuse and preventable human exposure

In the fall of 1994, Lorain County, Ohio, became the site of the first investigation of several large-scale incidences in which the organophosphate pesticide methyl parathion was illegally applied to private residences. The extent of potential human exposure to this pesticide led the Ohio Department of Health to formally request technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This article describes the initial investigation of 64 homes in Ohio and introduces the method of using both biological markers of exposure (p-nitrophenol levels in human urine samples) and environmental markers of contamination in dust and air samples when making public health decisions about the cleanup of homes sprayed with methyl parathion. The results of the CDC rapid investigation led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to declare the contaminated homes in Lorain County a Superfund cleanup site. Seven years after the Lorain incident, and after subsequent Superfund actions had been implemented in Illinois and Mississippi, researchers participated in an expanded session devoted to methyl parathion at the 11th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Exposure Analysis held in Charleston, South Carolina, in the fall of 2001. The articles included in this monograph are based on presentations at that meeting. They report previously unpublished data that tell the methyl parathion story from different perspectives, each providing in-depth information about separate aspects of this multistate, multiagency, and multimillion dollar chemical exposure. This monograph is the methyl parathion story.

[Sleeping sickness: one hundred years of control strategy evolution]

Sleeping sickness has been known since the fifteenth century but the real progress in the knowledge of the disease occurred in the nineteenth century with the development of microscopy. From 1841 to 1901 the parasites and their vectors have been identified, the symptomatology and the epidemiology have been described. However, due to absence of any effective cure, the campaign against the disease was still based on the isolation of the patients and the transfer of exposed populations. The discovery of atoxyl in 1905 provided doctors with their first therapeutic weapon and, in 1910, the first action of vector control was undertaken with success in the Island of Principe. Between the two world conflicts, Jamot published the rules to fight against major outbreaks. Their application in Oubangui-Chari, in Cameroon and in French Occidental Africa brought tremendous results and signed the triumph of the mobile unit concept. Success which will not be denied until the sixties when the disease was believed to be eradicated. From the sixties to the nineties, the concept of the integration of prevention and care added to the exclusion of any vertical system will result in a progressive reniewed outbreak of the sleeping sickness in the known foci. As a paradox, it is a time rich in discovery as regards diagnosis, treatment and entomology. In 1994, the World Health Organisation got concerned with the situation of the disease in Central Africa where the outbreak of the disease reinforced. A second paradox appeared; it is the next to total disinterest from the politics and fund raisers which will save the disease. Today, sleeping sickness is the typical example of the orphan disease, a show case brandished by all the good souls. In 2001, an agreement between the WHO and the pharmaceutical industry brings back the financial funds required to fight the disease. Basically, it is a matter of resuming the action by using what is still existing and by creating new strategies considering the extreme lack of human and logistical resources. The objective is to eradicate the sleeping sickness as a public health problem. The challenge is huge, but is on the way to success.

[Archives, photographies, maps for malary in Latina Province]

After an historical introduction about ancient institutional regime of present Littoria/Latina province (until 1870 organized in Naples kingdom and Papal States), this essay is going to a swift analysis of marshes who reigned all over the land from the periphery of Rome to Fondi, when transient sheperds and woodmen were the only human beings of marshy land. So teachers for that unlettered people came into these lands, and so physicians came to fight against malary, first symbiotic enemy of man. So drainages were tried from Roman's epoch to Medieval and Illuministic one. We'll see Popes, feudal ladies and at last drainage trusts, all working to improve human life before the birth of Latina province. New cities and towns were born just during these trials; after the experiences of Angelo Celli, Italian Red Cross and Istituto per il risanamento antimalarico della regione pontina, many laws looked to medical aid for workers in malaric zones (exactly specified in topographic maps). In 1934 the Comitato provinciale antimalarico was introduced all over italian territory with the R.D.n. 1265.

[The Institut de Belleville: expansion and decline of research on biological control in Canada, 1909-1972]

Ever since the beginnings of economic entomology in Canada, research in biological control has drawn substantial support from the Federal Department of Agriculture. Enjoying a stable institutional environment with the establishment of the Dominion Parasite Laboratory in Belleville, Ontario, in 1929, biological control has also occupied an important position on the research agenda of the Department until the late sixties. Support from the scientific authorities was nevertheless fraught with important paradoxes. For example, research laboratories in biological control were built at a time when North American economic entomologists relied almost exclusively on synthetic chemical compounds like DDT. For some historians of science, the autonomy of Canadian entomologists explains the growth of this research program in the aftermath of World War II. However, the autonomy of the scientific community is a notion that is taken for granted in these historical explanations. In this article, I will demonstrate the institutional dynamic underlying the autonomy of Canadian entomologists in pursuing a research agenda suited to their interests. I will pay close attention to the role of certain actors -- foreign entomological services and the forest and pulp and paper industries - in the rise of a Canadian expertise in biological control. As well, I will show how their interventions forced a reorganization of research on the biological control of insect pests in agriculture and in forestry, and how this reorganization eventually entailed the dismantling of the Belleville laboratory in 1972.

"Spray, Spray, Spray!": insecticides and the making of applied entomology in Canada, 1871-1914

As insecticides were adopted by Canadian farmers and fruit-growers after 1871, the resources conferred on economic entomology by the Dominion and Ontario governments grew. In 1886, with the establishment of the Experimental Farms system, James Fletcher, the Dominion entomologist and botanist, and his colleagues inherited the task of promoting insecticides to orchardists and others. In 1898-1900, in response to the arrival in Ontario of the San Jose scale, Canada and Ontario adopted laws mandating the use of insecticides, as sprays and fumigants, in orchards and at plant quarantine stations. To meet the resulting demand for trained technicians and scientifically-minded farmers, the institutions of applied entomology federally and at the Ontario Agricultural College were further developed. In 1910, after a decade of rapid diffusion of insecticides, Parliament adopted the Destructive Insects and Pest Act, thus creating a national system of horticultural hygiene.

[Historical study on the moth repellent, "Fujisawa Camphor" (1)]

"Fujisawa Camphor" was introduced for sale as a moth repellent for home use in 1897. As a background that camphor was produced on a commercial basis, the following were studied: (1) Camphor was already used as a moth repellent by some people in the Endo Period. (2) With the Sino-Japanese War as a turning point, armaments were increased and they made military uniforms which were made of wool. It also made Western woolen clothes spread in general. (3) As people were in danger to catch infectious diseases in those days, they had a habit of avoiding bad odors and drifting fragrances like camphor were used in rooms to prevent the plague. (4) In those days, a technique for refining camphor was established, so white crystal-line camphor was produced on a commercial basis.

[The flea in cultural history and first effects of its control]

The knowledge about the biology and the origin of fleas from different periods of time as well as different geographical regions are described, starting from antiquity. Among this, the role of fleas in literature and art, for example in fairy tales and legends, proverbs and fables, painting and music and also the so called "circus of fleas" are covered. In connection with those aspects of cultural history the first efforts of control of flea plagues are mentioned. In addition to magic spells, these also include more or less complicated fleatraps for fleas and attempts of chemical control.

Our changing perspectives on benefits and risks of pesticides: a historical overview

The introduction of chemical pesticides following WW II ushered in the era of the "quick fix" for any aqricultural, forestry and human health problems. Scenarios of use, misuse, abuse and environmental contamination can be presented for any class of pesticide, culminating in dependence on these chemicals for increased production of food and fibre and improved health. With time, sophisticated agents having unique, target-specific mechanisms of action evolved but at increased cost(s) to crop production. Equatorial countries, rapidly becoming "breadbaskets" of the world, are particularly dependent on pesticides as they strive to increase production of nontraditional export products (NTEPS), valuable cash crops in demand in countries having more temperate climates. Developing nations have neither the legislation and regulations necessary to control pesticides nor trained personnel to inspect and monitor use, to analyze residues in produce or to initiate training programs. Their transition from agrarian to industrialized societies has meant that smaller, less well educated populations must shoulder the responsibility of increased traditional food production for consumption by urban populations as well as that of NTEPS. Unfortunately, to attain these goals, many older, more toxic, environmentally persistent and cheap pesticides, long banned in developed countries, are used extensively, creating serious local and global contamination and health problems.

Chemical-warfare techniques for insect control: insect 'pests' in Germany before and after World War I

During World War I, chemical-warfare practices were introduced into economic entomology in Germany. Fritz Haber, 'the father of chemical warfare', realized that Germany could not win the war and thus looked for 'civilian' uses for his chemical arsenal. Before the war, there was a rhetoric of dangerous 'masses' of insects but the large-scale techniques needed to deal with them had not been developed. The gap between rhetoric and practices enabled entomology to integrate chemical weapons into its working methods. This article traces transformations in the ways of seeing insects and their control from the mid-nineteenth century to after World War I.

Golden age of insecticide research: past, present, or future?

Insecticide research led to the first "complete" victories in combatting pests almost 50 years ago with the chlorinated hydrocarbons followed quickly by the organophosphates, methylcarbamates, and pyrethroids--all neuroactive chemicals. This Golden Age of Discovery was the source of most of our current insecticides. The challenge then became health and the environment, a Golden Age met with selective and degradable compounds. Next the focus shifted to resistance, novel biochemical targets, and new chemical approaches for pest control. The current Golden Age of Genetic Engineering has curtailed, but is unlikely to eliminate, chemical use on major crops. Insecticide research, having passed through several Golden Ages, is now in a renaissance of integrating chemicals and biologicals for sustainable pest control with human safety.

The biting midge of the West Highlands: fifty years of research

The biting midge of the West Highlands belongs to the family Ceratopogonidae and approximately 150 species are known to exist in Britain. All of the flies are of minute size and slender build with wings which fold over the back. The females have biting mouthparts including a needle sharp proboscis with scissor type mandibles. The males do not bite. The Ceratopogonidae devours other small insects, some feed on plant juices, others pierce the wing veins of butterflies and some attack juicy caterpillars. Only three genera are bloodsuckers and of these only Culicoides occurs in Britain. The members of this genus are classified by the pattern of wing venation and the spots on the wings. Edwards' gives a detailed table of these characteristics. The commonest species in Scotland is C. impunctatus, although others have been met with on Skye.

[The antimalaria campaign in Italy between control and eradication: the Sardinian experiment]

The aim of this paper is to examine historically the alternative between control and eradication of the infectious diseases, starting with the idea of eradication itself, a result of the Pasteurian revolution. The eradication of malaria in Italy is taken as a case study. Through an extensive use of the archival sources, the alternative between control and eradication is analysed for the first years of the Sardinian Project, directed by the Rockefeller Foundation, that resulted in the eradication of malaria in Sardinia. This program is compared with the different program, grounded in the Italian malariological tradition, that in the same years carried out the eradication of malaria in the rest of Italy.

[Integrated vector control methods and the threat of dengue hemorrhagic fever in the tropical zone of the Pacific Ocean]

Together with a story of the author's earliest visit to Leningrad and first meeting with the late Academician E. N. Pavlovsky , this contribution outlines subsequent developments concerning innovative approaches to the control of Culicidae of medical importance, with particular attention to a major field trial on the atoll of Funafuti , Tuvalu .

Re-establishment of cutaneous leishmaniasis after cessation of anti-malaria spraying

Decrease or interruption of transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis as a result of spraying of human dwellings with residual insecticides has been reported by several investigators. In this report the behaviour of the disease after cessation of spraying in the villages of Isfahan is studied. In 16 villages sprayed with DDT from 1966 through 1969, the incidence decreased from 8.2 per 1000 in 1965 to 0,7 per 1000 in 1969 but in 1970, the first year after cessation of spraying, the incidence increased to 15 per 1000, a 20-fold increase. The control villages did not show these changes, still having the incidence figure of more than 9 per 1000 per year. The study shows that insecticide spraying is not the fianl answer in the control of leishmaniasis.