Biting behavior and Plasmodium infection rates of Anopheles arabiensis from Sille, Ethiopia.
The man-biting behavior and Plasmodium infection rates of anopheline mosquitoes were investigated in Sille, a hyperendemic malarious area in southern Ethiopia. Seven Anopheles species were identified from all night landing collections, conducted from 18:00 to 06:00h between October 2001 and August 2002. The predominant species was Anopheles arabiensis (55.8%), followed by Anopheles coustani (31.5%), Anopheles pharoensis (9.5%), Anopheles funestus (2.2%), Anopheles nili (0.5%), Anopheles marshallii (0.4%) and Anopheles demeilloni (0.2%). Dissection of A. arabiensis showed an average parous rate of 73.2%. A large proportion of the parous mosquitoes were caught biting in the latter part of the night. Malaria sporozoite rates were determined by ELISA for A. arabiensis, with 0.5% (4/796) infective with Plasmodium falciparum and 1.76% (14/796) with Plasmodium vivax; there were no mixed infections. From our small sample of sporozoite positives we found no association between biting behavior and sporozoite infection status.
Taye
Aseged
A
Parasitology and Vector Biology Research Team, Department of Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases Research, Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute, P.O. Box 1242, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. asegedt@yahoo.com
Hadis
Mamuye
M
Adugna
Nesibu
N
Tilahun
Dejene
D
Wirtz
Robert A
RA
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000145:classification / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005002:Ethiopia; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology; D008288:Malaria / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D034101:Sporozoites / Q000302:isolation & purification