Abstract: Water clarification is an important part of the water treatment process, which is basically carried out using inorganic substances, although the use of organic substances is also possible. The seeds obtained from the pods produced by the tree known as moringa, have, among its many reported benefits, their use for water clarification. The objective of this review is to disseminate the work carried out on water treatment and the application of moringa seeds, Moringa oleifera Lam., in water clarification as a primary treatment for the removal of fine suspended solids. For this, a bibliographic review of research published in journals indexed in Latindesk, Scielo, Scientific Research, Redalyc databases and academic repositories published especially in Spanish and some in English and Portuguese was carried out. As a result, traditional methods of water purification and natural treatments are cited, among which the use of moringa seeds stands out, having carried out studies in different parts of the world, which show the potential of these seeds for the treatment of the water, with the advantage of not leaving toxic residues in the treated water, compared to aluminum sulfate, which is the chemical compound that is generally used as a coagulating agent in the purification of water.

Resumen: La clarificación del agua es parte importante en el proceso del tratamiento del agua, el cual fundamentalmente se realiza utilizando sustancias inorgánicas, siendo posible también la utilización de sustancias orgánicas. Las semillas obtenidas de las vainas que produce el árbol conocido como moringa, tiene, entre sus múltiples beneficios reportados, su uso para la clarificación del agua. El objetivo de la presente revisión es difundir los trabajos realizados sobre el tratamiento del agua y la aplicación de las semillas de moringa, Moringa oleifera Lam., en la clarificación del agua como tratamiento primario en la eliminación de sólidos finos en suspensión. Para ello se realizó una revisión bibliográfica de investigaciones publicadas en revistas indexadas en bases de datos de Latindesk, Scielo, Scientific Research, Redalyc y repositorios académicos publicados especialmente en español y algunos en inglés y portugués. Como resultado se citan los métodos tradicionales de purificación de agua y los tratamientos naturales, entre los que se destaca el uso de semillas de moringa, habiéndose realizado en diferentes partes del mundo estudios, que ponen en evidencia el potencial que tienen estas semillas para el tratamiento del agua, con la ventaja de no dejar residuos tóxicos en el agua tratada, comparativamente con el sulfato de aluminio que es el compuesto químico que generalmente se utiliza como agente coagulante en la potabilización del agua.

Monitoring phlebotomine sandflies in urban areas is key for epidemiological studies in susceptible populations. This paper describes sandfly fauna that were present in an urban area of the municipality of Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico, and were captured with Shannon and CDC light traps. During February and March of 2014, 1,442 sandflies were captured, specifically Lutzomyia cruciata (Coquillet) (98.8%), Lutzomyia cayennensis cayennensis (Floch and Abonnenc) (0.8%), Lutzomyia chiapanensis (Dampf) (0.3%) and Lutzomyia atulapai (De León) (0.1%). Lu. cruciata was the most abundant and the most frequently trapped species. This is the first record of its remarkable ability to adapt to urban green areas. The three other species trapped represent new records of geographic distribution for the study region. These results indicate the need to establish measures for reducing both human contact with this vector and the risk of possible sites of infection.

The composition and seasonal occurrence of sandflies were investigated in coffee agroecosystems in the Soconusco region of Chiapas, Mexico. Insect sampling was performed on three plantations located at different altitudes: Finca Guadalupe Zajú [1,000 m above sea level (a.s.l.)], Finca Argovia (613 m a.s.l.) and Teotihuacán del Valle (429 m a.s.l.). Sandflies were sampled monthly from August 2007-July 2008 using three sampling methods: Shannon traps, CDC miniature light traps and Disney traps. Sampling was conducted for 3 h during three consecutive nights, beginning at sunset. A total of 4,387 sandflies were collected during the course of the study: 2,718 individuals in Finca Guadalupe Zajú, 605 in Finca Argovia and 1,064 in Teotihuacán del Valle. The Shannon traps captured 94.3% of the total sandflies, while the CDC light traps and Disney traps captured 4.9% and 0.8%, respectively. More females than males were collected at all sites. While the number of sandflies captured was positively correlated with temperature and relative humidity, a negative correlation was observed between sandfly numbers and rainfall. Five species of sandflies were captured: Lutzomyia cruciata , Lutzomyia texana , Lutzomyia ovallesi , Lutzomyia cratifer / undulata and Brumptomyia sp. Lu. cruciata , constituting 98.8% of the total, was the most abundant species. None of the captured sandflies was infected with Leishmaniaspp.