Mosquito Species Associated with Refuse Dumps within Enugu Municipal, Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

A survey of refuse dumps in Enugu municipal for the presence of mosquito larvae and eggs from March to August, 2015 were studied. Twenty refuse sites from the five zones according to ESWAMA classifications were sampled to elucidate the mosquito ecology and their breeding habitats. Ovitrapping and larval sampling were used to collect the eggs and larvae from the different study sites. Water samples collected from the breeding sites during the larval collection were analysed for physico-chemical parameters and their correlation with larval abundance. Result indicated a total of 1,140 mosquito eggs were collected from Ovitrapping and 820 of the eggs were positive. Of the collections, 168 eggs were collected from New Haven, 199 eggs from G.R.A, 186 eggs from Abakpa, 163 eggs from Emene and 104 eggs from Independence layout. Culex quinquefasciatus accounted for 33.3% of the total eggs collected. The eggs of Cx.quinquefasciatus, Ae.albopictus and Ae.aegypti were the most abundant (p<0.05). Using larval sampling, 362 mosquito larvae comprising of seven species {Cx quinquefasciatus (36.7%), Ae. albopictus (28.2%), Ae.aegypti (21.3%), Ae.africanus (5.2%), Cx .tigripes (4.1%) and An.gambiae (0.8%)} were collected. Bulk of the collections was made in G.R.A (25.7%) while least collection was in Independence layout. The physico-chemical parameters sought after was Temp, pH, Dissolved oxygen, Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Zinc (Zn) and Iron (Fe) from the water collected from the breeding sites. Although there was no significance difference (P>0.05) between the physico-chemical parameters and mosquito larval abundance, temperature and Lead (Pb) showed strong positive (r=0.5, 0.6440) correlation respectively while Copper (Cu) showed a strong negative (r= -860) correlation. To avert disease outbreaks caused by vectors breeding in dump sites or around the sites in Enugu municipal, more dumpsters with coverlid should be provided to prohibit waste been disposed indiscriminately.