Entomological characterization of malaria in northern Colombia through vector and parasite species identification, and analyses of spatial distribution and infection rates

Abstract

BackgroundMalaria remains a worldwide public health concern and, in Colombia, despite the efforts to stop malaria transmission, the incidence of cases has increased over the last few years. In this context, it is necessary to evaluate vector diversity, infection rates, and spatial distribution, to better understand disease transmission dynamics. This information may contribute to the planning and development of vector control strategies.ResultsA total of 778 Anopheles mosquitoes were collected in fifteen localities of Córdoba from August 2015 to October 2016. Six species were identified and overall, Anopheles albimanus was the most widespread and abundant species (83%). Other species of the Nyssorhynchus subgenus were collected, including Anopheles triannulatus (13%), Anopheles nuneztovari (1%), Anopheles argyritarsis (< 1%) and two species belonging to the Anopheles subgenus: Anopheles pseudopunctipennis (3%) and Anopheles neomaculipalpus (< 1%). Four species were found naturally infected with two Plasmodium species: Anopheles nuneztovari was detected naturally infected with Plasmodium falciparum and Anopheles pseudopunctipennis with Plasmodium vivax, whereas An. albimanus and An. triannulatus were found infected with both parasite species and confirmed by nested PCR.ConclusionsIn general, the obtained results were contrasting with previous studies in terms of the most abundant and widespread collected species, and regarding infection rates, which were higher than those previously reported. A positive relationship between mosquito local abundance at the locality level and human infection at the municipality level was found. Mosquito local abundance and the number of houses with mosquitoes in each village are factors explaining malaria human cases in these villages. The obtained results suggest that other factors related to the apparent variation in malaria eco-epidemiology in northern Colombia, must be identified, to provide health authorities with better decision tools aiming to design control and prevention strategies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12936-017-2076-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Distribution and phylogenetic diversity of Anopheles species in malaria endemic areas of Honduras in an elimination setting

“…albimanus was the most frequently captured species despite the ecological differences between all locations. La Ceiba (Atlántida) and Kaukira (Gracias a Dios) yielded greater species richness (n = 4 to 5), similar to reports from Cordoba, in the coastal region of the Colombian Caribbean [26]. This high richness could be in uenced by the high temperatures of the coastal regions, high relative humidity and the presence of permanent larval habitats.…”

“…The barcoding approach compares an individual sequence with a reference library of such DNA sections to uniquely identify an organism to species. Thus, these ndings support the barcoding method as a useful tool to con rm the correct assignment of misidenti ed or unidenti ed Anopheles species using morphology [26,35,36,37]. When comparing the individual ability of both markers to identify or con rm Anopheles species in Honduras, it seems that both are informative enough and ful l their purpose [37,38,39].…”

“…Anopheles albimanus has been described as the dominant species in Central America, the Caribbean and some coastal regions of northern South America [9,12,13]. This has been demonstrated through studies conducted in Colombia [26], Panama [27], Belize [28], and Guatemala [29]. The predominance of this species -considered as a generalist species -can be attributed to the wide range of habitats, feeding preferences, and heights mosquitoes can tolerate [30].…”

Distribution and phylogenetic diversity of Anopheles species in malaria endemic areas of Honduras in an elimination setting

“…Anopheles albimanus has been described as the dominant species in Central America, the Caribbean and some coastal regions of northern South America [9,13,14]. This has been demonstrated through studies conducted in Colombia [27], Panama [28], Belize [29] and Guatemala [30]. The predominance of this species, considered as a generalist species, can be attributed to the wide range of habitats, feeding preferences, and heights mosquitoes can tolerate [31].…”

Natural Malaria Infection in Anopheline Vectors and Their Incrimination in Local Malaria Transmission in Darién, Panama

“…In addition, trap catches require that the traps do not harm captured mosquitoes [48,59]. Therefore, captures with PHBC have become the most widely used in malaria studies [60][61][62].…”