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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #324461
Research Project: Biting Arthropod Surveillance and Control

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: Development of etofenprox-treated U.S. military combat uniforms

Author
item Bernier, Ulrich
item PERRY, MELYNDA - Natick Soldier Center
item AGRAMONTE, NATASHA - University Of Florida
item Allen, Greg

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/2/2016
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Historically, the loss of personnel from death and disease has greatly outnumbered the corresponding loss due to combat during military conflict. In 1951, the U.S. military elected to treat combat uniforms with a blend known as M-1960 for the purpose of personal protection from arthropods that transmit disease pathogens. In the late 1970s, alternative uniform fabric treatments were explored and in the 1980s, permethrin was selected as the best insecticide for use on arthropod repellent treatment for uniform fabrics. In 1991, permethrin became the standard treatment of U.S. military combat uniforms. In 2013, the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service partnered with Mitsui Chemicals Agro, Inc. and Landis International, Inc., to evaluate etofenprox as a new fabric treatment against mosquitoes. There have been numerous documented cases of resistance to permethrin and other pyrethroids. Etofenprox, is a pyrethroid-like compound that has a better toxicological profile than permethrin and does not have demonstrated resistance in a number of strains of pyrethroid-resistant mosquitoes. For this study, etofenprox was applied to unwashed and 3 levels of washed U.S. Army Fire-Retardant Army Combat Uniforms (FRACU) to evaluate the protective efficacy against the bites of Aedes aegypti and Anopheles albimanus mosquitoes. The three wash levels (0x to 75x) demonstrated greater than 90% bite protection over that of the untreated control fabric. The data will be used for registration of this new clothing treatment and registration is expected sometime in 2016.