Abstract
Malaria is holoendemic in coastal Tanzania with Anopheles funestus and members of the A. gambiae complex being mainly responsible for transmission. Over a 4 months' sampling period 2222 anopheline mosquitoes were collected using light-traps and indoor resting catches, of which 58.6% were: A. gambiae, 7.6% A. arabiensis, 6.9% A. merus and 26.9% A. funestus. Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite antigen (CSA) rates were: A. funestus 6.05% (n = 479), A.gambiae 8.4% (n = 1042), A. arabiensis 7.3% (n = 136) and A. merus 9.8% (n = 122). The P. malariae CSA rate for all anophelines was 0.07% (n = 1862). Estimated sporozoite densities were less than 2000 for at least 50% of all the positive mosquitoes. Along the coast the abundance of A. merus (41.3%) and A. gambiae (46.1%) was similar, and their CSA rates were comparable (11.6% and 12.5%, respectively) and higher than those for A. arabiensis (7.7%) and A. funestus (4.6%). These results indicate that A. merus plays an unexpectedly important role in malaria transmission in coastal Tanzania.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 152-158 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |
Volume | 92 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1998 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Anopheles arabiensis
- Anopheles funestus
- Anopheles gambiae
- Anopheles merus
- Malaria
- Plasmodium falciparum
- Plasmodium malariae
- Sporozoite density
- Sporozoite rates
- Tanzania
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Parasitology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Infectious Diseases