Aircraft disinsection


Aircraft disinsection is the use of insecticide on international flights and in other closed spaces for insect and disease control. Confusion with disinfection, the elimination of microbes on surfaces, is not uncommon. Insect vectors of disease, mostly mosquitoes, have been introduced into and become indigenous in geographic areas where they were not previously present. Dengue, chikungunya and Zika spread across the Pacific and into the Americas by means of the airline networks. Cases of "airport malaria", in which live malaria-carrying mosquitoes disembark and infect people near the airport, may increase with global warming.
Definitions in the International Health Regulations of the World Health Organization are:
Disinsection is mandated by the IHR. The WHO recommends d-phenothrin for space spraying and permethrin for residual disinsection. Neither is harmful when used as recommended, according to WHO. Disinsection is one of two applications of the IHR likely to be encountered by travelers; yellow fever vaccination is the other.