Abstract
BackgroundMosquitoes sampling is an important component in malaria control. However, most of the methods used have several shortcomings and hence there is a need to develop and calibrate new methods. The Mbita trap for capturing host-seeking mosquitoes was recently developed and successfully tested in Kenya. However, the Mbita trap is less effective at catching outdoor-biting Anopheles funestus and Anopheles arabiensis in Madagascar and, thus, there is need to further evaluate this trap in diverse epidemiological settings. This study reports a field evaluation of the Mbita trap in a rice irrigation scheme in KenyaMethodsThe mosquito sampling efficiency of the Mbita trap was compared to that of the CDC light trap and the human landing catch in western Kenya. Data was analysed by Bayesian regression of linear and non-linear models.ResultsThe Mbita trap caught about 17%, 60%, and 20% of the number of An. arabiensis, An. funestus, and culicine species caught in the human landing collections respectively. There was consistency in sampling proportionality between the Mbita trap and the human landing catch for both An. arabiensis and the culicine species. For An. funestus, the Mbita trap portrayed some density-dependent sampling efficiency that suggested lowered sampling efficiency of human landing catch at low densities. The CDC light trap caught about 60%, 120%, and 552% of the number of An. arabiensis, An. funestus, and culicine species caught in the human landing collections respectively. There was consistency in the sampling proportionality between the CDC light trap and the human landing catch for both An. arabiensis and An. funestus, whereas for the culicines, there was no simple relationship between the two methods.ConclusionsThe Mbita trap is less sensitive than either the human landing catch or the CDC light trap. However, for a given investment of time and money, it is likely to catch more mosquitoes over a longer (and hence more representative) period. This trap can therefore be recommended for use by community members for passive mosquito surveillance. Nonetheless, there is still a need to develop new sampling methods for some epidemiological settings. The human landing catch should be maintained as the standard reference method for use in calibrating new methods for sampling the human biting population of mosquitoes.
Highlights
Mosquitoes sampling is an important component in malaria control
One of the three subjects slept in the Mbita trap (BNT), another slept in a bed net with a CDC light trap suspended beside it (CDC) and the third conducted a human landing catch (HLC) [3]
The parameter estimates from our models (Table 1, Figure 1) indicate the Mbita trap caught about 17%, 60%, and 20% of the number of An. arabiensis, An. funestus, and culicine species caught in the human landing collections respectively
Summary
Mosquitoes sampling is an important component in malaria control. most of the methods used have several shortcomings and there is a need to develop and calibrate new methods. New tools for sampling mosquito vector populations must be continuously developed Even these new sampling tools must be calibrated against the existing ones in different vectorial systems [4] if they are to be adopted for conventional use. A new trap, the Mbita trap has been developed [5] and separately evaluated in quite different vectorial systems in Western Kenya and Madagascar [6,7] with varying degrees of success. The performance of the Mbita trap compared to the CDC light trap hung adjacent to a human-occupied bednet and the human landing catches in the sampling of An. arabiensis An. funestus and culicines species of mosquitoes in a ricegrowing community in western Kenya with relatively high mosquito densities is reported
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