Mosquito larvae breeding habitat as hitch to the fight against malaria in Onicha Igbeze and its Environ, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The structure of mosquito larvae breeding habitats were studied at Onicha Igbeze and its environ in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study was carried out by identifying the larvae habitat, the structure, quality, measuring the temperature, pH and counting the number of larvae per breeding habitats. Larvae breeding habitats of different structures and quality were identified at twenty locations within the study area. The temperature of the breeding habitats ranged from 27.10oC to 31.90oC. Highest mean pH (8.50) was recorded at the breeding sites located at Isu Road 6. The anopheline mosquitoes were predominant among the two larvae types identified with the highest number (213 individual larva) recorded at Isu Road 2. Simple linear model performed depicted that larvae density increased with the habitats temperature and decreased with pH. Meanwhile, the study showed that the presence of larvae breeding habitats and an increase in environmental temperature favoured the breeding of mosquito larvae and could be setbacks to the fight against malaria.