DO IT YOURSELF: EVALUATING COMMERCIAL CO2 REGULATORS FOR SURVEILLANCE NETWORKS USING PRESSURIZED CYLINDERS

Area of Science:

• Entomology
• Environmental Science
• Public Health

Background:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a key attractant for monitoring blood-feeding insects like mosquitoes.
• Compressed gas cylinders with regulators offer precise CO2 flow control, but best practices for regulator selection are lacking.
• Evaluating equipment is vital for effective public health vector control programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the performance of commercially available CO2 gas regulators for insect monitoring.
• To compare new regulators against existing equipment used in vector control.
• To provide recommendations for regulator selection and operational use.

Main Methods:

• Tested four commercial CO2 regulator types and one existing model in environmental chambers simulating temperature extremes (9°C to 42°C).
• Validated promising regulators through duplicate testing with inverted temperature cycles.
• Conducted field validation with 15 duplicates across 56 trap cycles.

Main Results:

• Two of the tested regulators failed calibration during initial simulations.
• All remaining vetted regulators showed field failure rates below 5% after extensive testing.
• The previously used regulator had double the failure rate compared to the best-performing screened models.

Conclusions:

• Commercial CO2 regulators can be reliable for insect monitoring applications.
• Rigorous evaluation of equipment is essential for public health vector control.
• Recommendations are provided for selecting and implementing effective CO2 gas regulators.