Abstract
Abstract. The mosquito sampling efficiency of CDC miniature light‐traps, relative to night‐biting collections, was evaluated indoors at two sites in coastal Tanzania. We found that the total number of anophelines captured overnight by light‐traps (hung beside a bednet in use) was 1.23 times the number of anophelines captured by human‐bait collections. This relationship was not affected significantly by changes in the mosquito density, order of trapping method, date of sampling, or number of household occupants. Malaria sporozoite rates were twice as high among mosquitoes captured by light‐trap as compared to those captured by night‐biting collection. This was attributed to the tendency of light‐traps to capture a larger proportion of gravid mosquitoes, which also had high sporozoite rates. The differences in sporozoites rates according to abdominal stage indicates that unfed mosquitoes captured by light‐traps may define more precisely the human‐biting activity and sporozoite rates as seen by night‐biting collections. Our study shows that light‐traps, when used in combination with night‐biting collections, can be an effective and sensitive means for measuring human‐biting activity and the sporozoite rate.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 249-255 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Medical and Veterinary Entomology |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 1995 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Anopheles funestus
- Anopheles gambiae complex
- CDC light‐traps
- Tanzania
- blood‐meal identification
- malaria sporozoite rate
- man biting rate
- mosquito abdominal condition
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Parasitology
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- General Veterinary
- Insect Science