Effectiveness of Print Education at Reducing Urban Mosquito Infestation through Improved Resident-Based Management.

Danielle Bodner,Dawn Biehler,Shannon L Ladeau,Nicole Kirchoff,Paul T Leisnham,Immo A Hansen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155011

Abstract

Improving resident-based management and knowledge of mosquitoes is often an integral component of integrated mosquito management, especially in urban landscapes with considerable mosquito habitat on privately owned lands. This study tested the effectiveness of print education materials at reducing urban mosquito exposure through improving resident knowledge of, and attitudes towards, mosquitoes and mosquito management in Washington DC, USA. There was a specific focus on the removal of water-filled containers that are utilized by the developmental stages of the two most common vector species in the region, Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens. Households in six neighborhoods that varied in socio-economic status were administered knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) surveys in 2010 and 2012, and had their yards surveyed for container habitats and immature mosquitoes (larvae and pupae) in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Half the households (intervention, n = 120) received education materials in 2011 and 2012 to yield a before-after control-intervention (BACI) design. Unexpectedly, residents in intervention households were more likely to show decreased concern for mosquito-borne illnesses than residents in control households, which did not receive materials. Moreover, there was a greater probability that control households reduced containers in 2012 than intervention households, particularly when they had low numbers of baseline (2010) containers. Irrespective of control, reductions in containers were associated with decreased abundances of immature mosquitoes. Overall, our findings suggest that print education materials may have unintended negative effects on resident attitudes and household management of mosquito production. We recommend that mosquito control agencies need to carefully consider their content of print messages and the effectiveness of strategies that passively convey information with little or no engagement with control professionals.

Highlights

Adult female mosquitoes acquire proteins required for egg development by biting humans and other animals, and it is this behavior that makes them important medical and veterinary pests and disease-vectors
Increased concern of mosquito-borne diseases was predicted by education intervention (Table 1 and S1 Table), but respondents from control households were more likely to report increased concern than respondents that received education materials (OR = 6.17)
The number of water-holding containers declined by 67.6% from 2010 to 2012, it is unlikely that this decline was due to our education intervention because we detected greater container reductions in control households, indicating a negative influence of our intervention materials on household source reduction practices

Summary

Introduction

Adult female mosquitoes acquire proteins required for egg development by biting humans and other animals, and it is this behavior that makes them important medical and veterinary pests and disease-vectors. Mosquito-borne diseases have important ecological, economic, and human health implications world-wide. There were an estimated 214 million cases of malaria in 2014 [1]. Malaria sustains cycles of morbidity and poverty across generations, and creates a total global economic burden that was estimated to exceed $2.7 billion in 2014 [2]. More than one-third of the world’s population is at risk for infection and associated negative social impacts of dengue [3]. In the United States, West Nile virus is the most important mosquito-borne disease, having caused 41,000 diagnosed cases and 1,700 deaths since its first detection in North America in 1999 [4]

Methods

Results

Conclusion