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<DIV> In the account of US soldiers and cutaneous
leishmaniasis, it is correctly said that insecticidal dog collars should
<STRONG>not</STRONG> be used on humans. </DIV>
<DIV> It is incorrectly said that 'there is no evidence they
[the collars] work against sand flies.' </DIV>
<DIV> The Scalibor dog collar (Intervet International), which
is a depot of deltamethrin slowly released into the lipids of the skin, protects
dogs against the bites of over 80% of sand flies for well over six
months. Experimental trials with dogs have been done in labs in
France, Spain and Brazil with <EM>Phlebotomus perniciosus, Phlebotomus
papatasi</EM> and <EM>Lutzomyia longipalpis </EM>all with excellent results. In
a field test in Italy it was calculated that Scalibor gave a protection rate to
dogs of 85% when the the force of transmission was high. Another field trial in
Iran showed that reducing the risk of infection to dogs by collaring them
significantly reduced the risk of visceral leishmaniasis in children. </DIV>
<DIV> Key references that should be seen before assuming there
is no collar that can protect against the bite of sand flies are shown
below. For more details on canine leishmaniasis and how to protect dogs,
see <A
href="http://www.leishmaniasis.info">www.leishmaniasis.info</A>. </DIV>
<DIV> There is a highly active focus of human
visceral leishmaniasis in Iraq the area between the Tigris and the Euphrates.
The parasite is <EM>Leishmania infantum;</EM> the reservoirs are dogs and
jackals; the vector is unknown but apparently there are only two candidate
man-biting species present - <EM>P.alexandri</EM> (the probable vector?)
and <EM>P. papatasi</EM> (very unlikely vector of <EM>L.
infantum</EM>). It would be a good idea to protect dogs used by
the US forces in Iraq from sand fly bites with Scalibor replaced every six
months. Immersion in water does not remove protection. Shampooing should be with
Scalibor shampoo to avoid loss of protection. </DIV>
<DIV>
<UL type=disc>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Killick-Kendrick
R, Killick-Kendrick M, Focheux M C, Dereure J, Puech M P & Cadiergues M C
(1997) <STRONG>Protection of dogs from bites of phlebotomine sandflies by
Scalibor ProtectorBands for control of canine leishmaniasis.</STRONG> <EM>Med
Vet Entomol </EM><STRONG>11,</STRONG> 105-111.</LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Halbig
P, Hodjati M H, Mazloumi-Gavagni A S, Mohite H & Davies C R (2000)
<STRONG>Further evidence that deltamethrin-impregnated collars protect
domestic dogs from sandfly bites.</STRONG> <EM>Med Vet Entomol</EM>
<STRONG>14,</STRONG> 223-226. </LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">David
J R, Stamm L M, Bezarra H S, Nonato Souza, R, Killick-Kendrick R &
Oliveira Lima J W (2001) <STRONG>Deltamethrin-impregnated plastic dog collars
have a potent anti-feeding effect on Lutzomyia longipalpis and Lutzomyia
migonei.</STRONG> <EM>Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz</EM> <STRONG>96,</STRONG> 839-847.
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/><o:p></o:p></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Maroli
M, Mizzon V, Siragusa C, D'Orazi A & Gradoni L (2001) <STRONG>Evidence for
an impact on the incidence of canine leishmaniasis by the mass use of
deltamethrin-impregnated dog collars in southern Italy. </STRONG><EM>Med Vet
Entomol </EM><STRONG>15,</STRONG> 358-363. <o:p></o:p></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Reithinger
R, Teodoro U & Davies C R (2001) <STRONG>Topical insecticide treatments to
protect dogs from sand fly vectors of leishmaniasis.</STRONG> <EM>Emerg Infect
Dis </EM><STRONG>7,</STRONG> 872-876. <o:p></o:p></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Mazloumi
Gavgani A S, Hodjati M H, Mohite H & Davies C R (2002) <STRONG>Effect of
insecticide-impregnated dog collars on incidence of zoonotic visceral
leishmaniasis in Iranian children: a matched-cluster randomised
trial.</STRONG> 3 <EM>The Lancet</EM> <STRONG>360,</STRONG> 374-379.
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