Modeling of Control Efforts against Rhipicephalus sanguineus, the Vector of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Sonora Mexico

Gerardo Alvarez-Hernandez, Alejandro Villegas Trejo, Vardayani Ratti, Michael Teglas, Dorothy I. Wallace*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a significant health problem in Sonora, Mexico. The tick vector, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, feeds almost exclusively on domestic dogs that, in this region, also serve as the reservoir for the tick-borne pathogen, Rickettsia rickettsii. A process-based mathematical model of the life cycle of R. sanguineus was developed to predict combinations of insecticidal dog collars and long-lasting insecticidal wall treatments resulting in suppression of indoor tick populations. Because of a high burden of RMSF in a rural community near the Sonora state capital of Hermosillo, a test area was treated with a combination of insecticidal dog collars and long-lasting insecticidal wall treatments from March 2018 to April 2019, with subsequent reduction in RMSF cases and deaths. An estimated 80% of the dogs in the area had collars applied and 15% of the houses were treated. Data on tick abundance on walls and dogs, collected during this intervention, were used to parameterize the model. Model results show a variety of treatment combinations likely to be as successful as the one carried out in the test community.

Original languageEnglish
Article number263
JournalInsects
Volume13
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: The model development and simulation study was funded by the National Science Foundation (award 2019609).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

Keywords

  • Dog collars
  • Insecticidal wall treatment
  • Rhipicephalus sanguineus
  • Rickettsia rickettsi
  • Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
  • Tick control
  • Tick-borne disease

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Modeling of Control Efforts against Rhipicephalus sanguineus, the Vector of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Sonora Mexico'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this