M
M A D E I N I TA LY / P est control
PHYSICIANS of the environment
Analyzing a treatment (specifically adulticide control) does not mean proposing it as the universal panacea, on the contrary, since it involves numerous side effects, I would consider it a resource to be used wisely and competently edited by Graziano Dassi
I
would like to start this brief note with a title that might arouse fear: ‘no numbers, no disinfestation!’. Rather, I’m talking about fear because from experience I notice a certain reluctance to analyze our work with the rigour of arithmetic. The starting point comes from the criticism of adulticide control that, it is clear, has two quite significant defects: its non-specific nature and the problematic control of drifts. But it seems strange to me that they also refer to the phenomena of resistance to pyrethroids (an undeniable fact, but to be specified both for p.a. and for a stabilized genetic strain) as an argument of poor efficacy, and then they are indicated as pharmacological therapy in cases of virosis (ascertained or suspected). Virosis is a serious thing and to define an emergency protocol the professional must have the right information and know all about it. Again, considering ourselves to be physicians of the environment, it would be good if we followed the criteria of the health clinic. Moreover, the analogy to antibiotics seems obvious to me (no doctor or veterinarian would confuse a tetracycline with a cephalosporin), and we should also pay the right attention because our p.a. are not all the same, and not even the various formulations: an aqueous micro-emulsion does not equal a concentrated emulsion. It is also true that the prescription of antibiotics was once widespread both in cases of real 96
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need and in cases where their use could be considered superfluous or even useless. However, I don’t think any clinician would dare forbid their use. If we accept this concept, in my opinion, there are three aspects that should not be overlooked: the first is to take a closer look at the methods to which the publications that affirm the resistance refer. In this, I would like to emphasize that no generalization is permitted.
I remember, from direct experience, the difficulties of stabilizing the genetic makeup of Musca domestica (house fly) to evaluate the sensitivity/resistance of the various strains to dichlorvos (DDVP) [§], difficulties that multiplied for colleagues who were dealing with the various species of mosquitoes. The second concerns the aforementioned critical points inherent in adulticide control (with
