Abstract
BackgroundMalaria vector sampling is the best method for understanding the vector dynamics and infectivity; thus, disease transmission seasonality can be established. There is a need to protecting humans involved in the sampling of disease vectors during surveillance or in control programmes. In this study, human landing catch, two cow odour baited resting boxes and an unbaited resting box were evaluated as vector sampling tools in an area with a high proportion of Anopheles arabiensis, as the major malaria vector.MethodsThree resting boxes were evaluated against human landing catch. Two were baited with cow odour, while the third was unbaited. The inner parts of the boxes were covered with black cloth materials. Experiments were arranged in latin-square design. Boxes were set in the evening and left undisturbed; mosquitoes were collected at 06:00 am the next morning, while human landing catch was done overnight.ResultsA total of 9,558 An. arabiensis mosquitoes were collected. 17.5% (N = 1668) were collected in resting box baited with cow body odour, 42.5% (N = 4060) in resting box baited with cow urine, 15.1% (N = 1444) in unbaited resting box and 24.9% (N = 2386) were collected by human landing catch technique. In analysis, the house positions had no effect on the density of mosquitoes caught (DF = 3, F = 0.753, P = 0.387); the sampling technique had significant impact on the caught mosquitoes densities (DF = 3, F 37. 944, P < 0.001).ConclusionOdour-baited resting boxes have shown the possibility of replacing the existing traditional method (human landing catch) for sampling malaria vectors in areas with a high proportion of An. arabiensis as malaria vectors. Further evaluations of fermented urine and longevity of the urine odour still need to be investigated.
Highlights
Malaria vector sampling is the best method for understanding the vector dynamics and infectivity; disease transmission seasonality can be established
In the Anopheles gambiae complex, studies have shown different odour preference among the sibling species: Anopheles gambiae s.s. is attracted by semiochemicals from humans sweat [14], Anopheles arabiensis notably varies from being attracted by humans or bovine odour, depending on the geographical location [15]
Human landing catch (HLC) did better in mosquitoes sampling than unbaited box (UB) and BBCO (Figure 2)
Summary
Malaria vector sampling is the best method for understanding the vector dynamics and infectivity; disease transmission seasonality can be established. Human landing catch, two cow odour baited resting boxes and an unbaited resting box were evaluated as vector sampling tools in an area with a high proportion of Anopheles arabiensis, as the major malaria vector. There is a need to develop a trapping system, which uses the host-seeking strategies of the vectors and can be incorporated in simple tools/devices for vectors sampling [18,19]. The exploitation of both ecology and behavioural aspects of vectors are important in reducing the vectorhuman contact by developing targets or odour-based sampling tool [8,19]
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