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DDT and BHC as Residual Insecticides in Malaya

Abstract

AN earlier report1 described the effects of the residual insecticides DDT and BHC (‘Gammexane’) on Anopheles maculatus and Culex fatigans entering experimental huts fitted with window traps, following the method employed by Thomson2. A. maculatus was killed by wettable powders of both DDT (200 mgm./sq. ft.) and BHC (40 mgm. gamma isomer/sq. ft.) for at least twelve weeks after application. DDT killed few C. fatigans, the majority being irritated and driven out of the hut without feeding; BHC had the same effect but also killed large numbers for several weeks. Owing to reduced numbers of mosquitoes entering the huts over the later weeks of the experiment, no information was obtained on how long these doses of DDT and BHC would continue to kill A. maculatus. For this reason the experiment was repeated in 1950 using wettable powders at the same doses, the insecticides being applied in January so that the deposits would be ten to twenty weeks old during March, April and May, the period when a seasonal increase in numbers of A. maculatus occurs in Malaya.

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References

  1. Wharton, R. H., and Reid, J. A., Nature, 165, 28 (1950).

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  2. Thomson, R. C. M., Nature, 163, 109 (1949).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Davidson, D., Ann. Trop. Med. Parasit., 44, 1 (1950).

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WHARTON, R. DDT and BHC as Residual Insecticides in Malaya. Nature 167, 854–855 (1951). https://doi.org/10.1038/167854b0

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