Synthetic Sex Pheromone Attracts the Leishmaniasis Vector Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) to Traps in the Field

Improving vector control remains a key goal in reducing the worl's burden of infectious disease. More cost-effective approaches to vector control are urgently neede, particularly because vaccines are unavailable and treatment is prohibitively expensive. These dispensers worked equally well when deployed with mechanical light rraps and inexpensive sticky traps. If deployed effectively, pheromone-based traps could be used to decrease AVL treansmission rates through specific targeting and reduction of L. longipalpi populations. This is the first study to show attraction of a human disease-transmitting insect to a synthetic pheromone in the field, showing the general applicability of this novel approach for developing new tools for use in vector control.