Space Spraying

Space spraying is a method used to quickly kill a pest population with little to no residual effect. However, this treatment cannot be used in isolation. It is important that the removal of the target population be a collaborative effort between space spraying and other forms of defenses. Populations that can be fought against using this method include houseflies, sand flies and mosquitoes. Space spraying is ideal for use in emergency epidemic situations, and could be a very effective method for helping to eradicate malaria from areas where the disease is endemic such as Ghana, South Africa, and Mexico.

Space spraying is effective at not only killing a disease-transmitting population of insects, but it is also effective at interrupting the transmission cycle of the actual disease. The process consists of a cloud of insecticide droplets that are dispersed over the impacted region. The idea is that the insects will encounter these droplets during flight and die. In order for this method to be effective, the behavior pattern of the specific target insect must be well studied and understood. The right toxins will be needed to shut down the biological system of the insect without posing a great health risk to the human population.

Space spraying is technically a form of fog. The defense is only effective while the droplets are airborne, so it is important that the spray is released during the prime time of flight for the target population. The spray comes in two forms, thermal fog and cold fog. The difference between these two types, the costs, and the effectiveness of each method is what will be addressed in the next report to come.

This information was compiled from data released by the World Health Organization at www.who.org