title: Interdependence of domestic malaria prevention measures and mosquito-human interactions in urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Successful malaria vector control depends on understanding behavioural interactions between mosquitoes and humans, which are highly setting-specific and may have characteristic features in urban environments. Here mosquito biting patterns in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania are examined and the protection against exposure to malaria transmission that is afforded to residents by using an insecticide-treated net (ITN) is estimated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mosquito biting activity over the course of the night was estimated by human landing catch in 216 houses and 1,064 residents were interviewed to determine usage of protection measures and the proportion of each hour of the night spent sleeping indoors, awake indoors, and outdoors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hourly variations in biting activity by members of the Anopheles gambiae complex were consistent with classical reports but the proportion of these vectors caught outdoors in Dar es Salaam was almost double that of rural Tanzania. Overall, ITNs confer less protection against exophagic vectors in Dar es Salaam than in rural southern Tanzania (59% versus 70%). More alarmingly, a biting activity maximum that precedes 10 pm and much lower levels of ITN protection against exposure (38%) were observed for Anopheles arabiensis, a vector of modest importance locally, but which predominates transmission in large parts of Africa.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a situation of changing mosquito and human behaviour, ITNs may confer lower, but still useful, levels of personal protection which can be complemented by communal transmission suppression at high coverage. Mosquito-proofing houses appeared to be the intervention of choice amongst residents and further options for preventing outdoor transmission include larviciding and environmental management.
authors: Swiss Tropical Institute, Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Socinstrasse 57, PO Box, 4002 Basel, Switzerland. Y.Geissbuehler@unibas.ch
authors: Yvonne
authors: Y
authors: Geissbühler
authors: Prosper
authors: P
authors: Chaki
authors: Basiliana
authors: B
authors: Emidi
authors: Nicodemus J
authors: NJ
authors: Govella
authors: Rudolf
authors: R
authors: Shirima
authors: Valeliana
authors: V
authors: Mayagaya
authors: Deo
authors: D
authors: Mtasiwa
authors: Hassan
authors: H
authors: Mshinda
authors: Ulrike
authors: U
authors: Fillinger
authors: Steven W
authors: SW
authors: Lindsay
authors: Khadija
authors: K
authors: Kannady
authors: Marcia Caldas
authors: MC
authors: de Castro
authors: Marcel
authors: M
authors: Tanner
authors: Gerry F
authors: GF
authors: Killeen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008288:Malaria / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*; D011156:Population Density; D013636:Tanzania