Biting and resting behaviour of malaria vectors in Bandar-Abbas County, Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

1 / 11 WHO EMRO | Biting and resting behaviour of malaria vectors in Bandar-Abbas County, Islamic Republic Background: Blood feeding and resting behaviour of malaria vectors are the most influential factors in malaria transmission. Aims: To measure blood feeding and resting behaviour, conventional mosquito sampling methods were performed in an area with potential for malaria transmission. Methods: Adult mosquitoes were collected monthly from indoor/outdoor places by conventional sampling methods, and larval habitats were investigated. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the human blood index (HBI) of the mosquitoes. Results: Anopheles stephensi, Anopheles culicifacies, Anopheles dthali and Anopheles fluviatilis, were collected. Overall, 1249 female Anopheles mosquitoes were captured on human and animal baits, but no human-vector contact occurred indoors. A. dthali, A. fluviatilis and A. culicifacies showed a greater tendency to outdoor resting places in contrast to A. stephensi, which had a propensity to indoor resting places. The seasonal biting activities of all species occurred at average temperatures between 23 and 27°C. HBI was measured as 27.2%, 20.7%, 19.1%, and 23.0% for A. fluviatilis, A. stephensi, A. culicifacies and A. dthali, respectively. Conclusion: Vector control strategy depends upon mosquito behaviour. Therefore, using appropriate sampling methods based on mosquito behaviour is critical for malaria control planning. Exophilic/exophagic habit of mosquito vectors leads to fewer human bites, resulting in biting protection. Exophilic behaviour also requires specific larvicidal operations in order to prevent and control malaria transmission.

Effects of Temperature and Nutrition during the Larval Period on Life History Traits in an Invasive Malaria Vector Anopheles stephensi

“…Malaria is one of the most serious human diseases, and even now it kills half a million people annually, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Anopheles stephensi Liston is a malaria vector mosquito that originated in Asia and the Middle East [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] and recently spread to the Horn of Africa and other African countries [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Different from other African malaria vector species, it occurs in urban areas where artificial containers are utilized as larval habitats [ 16 ].…”

Diversity and behavioral activity of Anopheles mosquitoes on the slopes of Mount Cameroon

“…gambiae complex are known to be heterogeneous in their biting behavior and could be endophilic, exophilic, anthropophilic or zoophagic, characteristics that enable the assessment of malaria transmission from vector biting rates. With up to 71.5% of the anopheline fauna caught outdoors, plenty of the Anopheles species still prefer resting outdoors as opposed to indoors as reported previously in the area and elsewhere [ 9 , 24 , 38 ]. Exophagic activity was the dominant behavior of the An.…”

Malaria vector feeding, peak biting time and resting place preference behaviors in line with Indoor based intervention tools and its implication: scenario from selected sentinel sites of Ethiopia

“…funestus in different countries of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) ( Sougoufara et al., 2020 ). Malaria mosquitoes not only shifted their biting location but also biting time from late night to early evening ( Mojahedi et al., 2020 ), making the use of LLINs and IRS less effective. In some malaria endemic regions of SSA, there are some reports stating the substitution of some anthropophilic and endophagic vector species such as An.…”