Abstract
BackgroundTengchong County was one of the counties located at the China-Myanmar border with high malaria incidence in the previous decades. As the pilot county for malaria elimination at the border area, Tengchong County is aiming to be the first county to achieve malaria elimination goal. A cross-sectional entomological survey was carried out to evaluate the feasibility of elimination approach and assess the receptivity of malaria reintroduction.MethodsLight traps associated with live baits were used to investigate the abundance of adult mosquitoes in nine villages in Tengchong County. Light traps were set to collect adult mosquitoes in both human houses and cowsheds from dusk till dawn in each site.ResultsA total of 4948 adult Anopheles mosquitoes were collected from May to December in two villages. Of the mosquitoes were captured, 24.2% were in human houses and 75.8% in cowsheds. The peak of abundance occurred in July for An. sinensis and in September-October for An. minimus (s.l.) Ten Anopheles species were collected, the most prevalent being An. sinensis (50.3%), An. peditaeniatus (31.6%) and An. minimus (s.l.) (15.8%), contributing to 97.6% of the sample. Potential breeding sites were also investigated and a total of 407 larvae were collected, with An. sinensis (50.1%) and An. minimus (s.l.) (46.2%) as predominant species. Ponds and rice fields were the two preferred breeding sites for Anopheles mosquitoes; however, the difference between the number of adults and larvae captured suggest other breeding sites might exist. Both An. sinensis and An. minimus (s.l.) were found zoophilic with human blood index as 0.21 and 0.26, respectively. No Plasmodium positive Anopheles specimens were found by PCR among 4,000 trapped mosquitoes.ConclusionsAlthough no indigenous malaria cases have been reported in Tengchong County since 2013, there is still a risk from the presence of vectors in the context of human population movements from neighboring malaria endemic areas. The presence of An. sinensis, associated to rice fields, is particularly worrying. Sustained entomological surveillance is strongly suggested even after malaria elimination certification.
Highlights
Malaria is the deadliest vector-borne disease in tropical and subtropical areas, with a number of confirmed cases estimated at 216 million with 445,000 deaths in 2016 [1]
Because of the diversity of malaria vectors and large population movements across the border, the number of malaria cases reported in Tengchong County (TCC) was the highest for the whole country in previous years [6, 12]
To investigate the feasibility of malaria elimination and assess the risk of reintroduction of malaria in TCC, a series of studies and analyses on epidemiology were carried out and published recently [8, 14]. These studies emphasized the risk of reintroduction of malaria in TCC due to population movement across the border into putative receptive areas
Summary
Malaria is the deadliest vector-borne disease in tropical and subtropical areas, with a number of confirmed cases estimated at 216 million with 445,000 deaths in 2016 [1]. TCC was designated in 2012 as the pilot county for malaria elimination at border areas with the objective of being the first border county to achieve malaria elimination This status was officially granted in 2015 and no locally transmitted cases were observed since . To investigate the feasibility of malaria elimination and assess the risk of reintroduction of malaria in TCC, a series of studies and analyses on epidemiology were carried out and published recently [8, 14]. These studies emphasized the risk of reintroduction of malaria in TCC due to population movement across the border into putative receptive areas. A cross-sectional entomological survey was carried out to evaluate the feasibility of elimination approach and assess the receptivity of malaria reintroduction
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