Optimizing the Colour and Fabric of Targets for the Control of the Tsetse Fly Glossina fuscipes fuscipes

Abstract

Background

Most cases of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) start with a bite from one of the subspecies of Glossina fuscipes. Tsetse use a range of olfactory and visual stimuli to locate their hosts and this response can be exploited to lure tsetse to insecticide-treated targets thereby reducing transmission. To provide a rational basis for cost-effective designs of target, we undertook studies to identify the optimal target colour.

Methodology/Principal Findings

On the Chamaunga islands of Lake Victoria , Kenya, studies were made of the numbers of G. fuscipes fuscipes attracted to targets consisting of a panel (25 cm square) of various coloured fabrics flanked by a panel (also 25 cm square) of fine black netting. Both panels were covered with an electrocuting grid to catch tsetse as they contacted the target. The reflectances of the 37 different-coloured cloth panels utilised in the study were measured spectrophotometrically. Catch was positively correlated with percentage reflectance at the blue (460 nm) wavelength and negatively correlated with reflectance at UV (360 nm) and green (520 nm) wavelengths. The best target was subjectively blue, with percentage reflectances of 3%, 29%, and 20% at 360 nm, 460 nm and 520 nm respectively. The worst target was also, subjectively, blue, but with high reflectances at UV (35% reflectance at 360 nm) wavelengths as well as blue (36% reflectance at 460 nm); the best low UV-reflecting blue caught 3× more tsetse than the high UV-reflecting blue.

Conclusions/Significance

Insecticide-treated targets to control G. f. fuscipes should be blue with low reflectance in both the UV and green bands of the spectrum. Targets that are subjectively blue will perform poorly if they also reflect UV strongly. The selection of fabrics for targets should be guided by spectral analysis of the cloth across both the spectrum visible to humans and the UV region.

Author Summary

Efforts to control human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) would be strengthened by the development and application of more cost-effective methods of controlling the various species of tsetse fly vector. Among the most promising approaches is the use of insecticide-treated targets which use various olfactory and visual stimuli to attract and kill tsetse. Following on from previous studies of the responses of tsetse to odours and target size and shape, we compared the numbers of G. f. fuscipes attracted to different coloured targets. Our results show that the attraction of tsetse is correlated positively with reflectance in the blue region of the spectrum but negatively with the UV- and green regions. The best blue targets attract and kill three times more tsetse than the worst because of different UV reflectance levels in the different blue cloths. Hence selecting fabrics for use in targets must be based on spectral analysis of the fabrics' reflectance across the spectrum visible to tsetse, which includes UV, and not simply on the ‘rule of thumb’ that targets to control tsetse should be blue.