Gopal P. Ananth

Generation of airborne fly body particles by four electrocution fly traps and an electronic fly trap

Five commercially available fly traps were tested with laboratory reared house flies in a chamber for 15 minutes, to determine the sizes and number of respirable particles generated during the course of fly capture. Four of the five traps electrocuted the flies, while one trap captured the flies on a sticky pad after disorienting them with a periodic low d.c. voltage. The electrocution resulted in a respirable particle count level increasing 10 to 500 times over the background (flies with no trap), while the non‐electrocution technique resulted in particle count levels near or below the mean background level. For three of the four electrocution traps, a simple linear regression model indicated that particle counts increased with an increasing number of flies killed. Statistically significant correlation between particle counts and fly kills could not be obtained for the other two traps.