title: Applications and limitations of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention miniature light traps for measuring biting densities of African malaria vector populations: a pooled-analysis of 13 comparisons with human landing catches.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Measurement of densities of host-seeking malaria vectors is important for estimating levels of disease transmission, for appropriately allocating interventions, and for quantifying their impact. The gold standard for estimating mosquito-human contact rates is the human landing catch (HLC), where human volunteers catch mosquitoes that land on their exposed body parts. This approach necessitates exposure to potentially infectious mosquitoes, and is very labour intensive. There are several safer and less labour-intensive methods, with Centers for Disease Control light traps (LT) placed indoors near occupied bed nets being the most widely used.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper presents analyses of 13 studies with paired mosquito collections of LT and HLC to evaluate these methods for their consistency in sampling indoor-feeding mosquitoes belonging to the two major taxa of malaria vectors across Africa, the Anopheles gambiae sensu lato complex and the Anopheles funestus s.l. group. Both overall and study-specific sampling efficiencies of LT compared with HLC were computed, and regression methods that allow for the substantial variations in mosquito counts made by either method were used to test whether the sampling efficacy varies with mosquito density.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Generally, LT were able to collect similar numbers of mosquitoes to the HLC indoors, although the relative sampling efficacy, measured by the ratio of LT:HLC varied considerably between studies. The overall best estimate for An. gambiae s.l. was 1.06 (95% credible interval: 0.68-1.64) and for An. funestus s.l. was 1.37 (0.70-2.68). Local calibration exercises are not reproducible, since only in a few studies did LT sample proportionally to HLC, and there was no geographical pattern or consistent trend with average density in the tendency for LT to either under- or over-sample.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LT are a crude tool at best, but are relatively easy to deploy on a large scale. Spatial and temporal variation in mosquito densities and human malaria transmission exposure span several orders of magnitude, compared to which the inconsistencies of LT are relatively small. LT, therefore, remain an invaluable and safe alternative to HLC for measuring indoor malaria transmission exposure in Africa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002, Basel, Switzerland. olivier.briet@unibas.ch.|University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, Basel, 4003, Switzerland. olivier.briet@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Olivier J T
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Briët
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002, Basel, Switzerland. bjohn@ihi.or.tz.|University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, Basel, 4003, Switzerland. bjohn@ihi.or.tz.|Ifakara Health Institute, PO Box 78373, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania. bjohn@ihi.or.tz.
authors.forename: Bernadette J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Huho
authors.affiliation: Centre for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, PO Box 1578, Kisumu, Kenya. hzg1@cdc.gov.|Division of Parasitic Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, 4770 Buford Highway, Mailstop F-42, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA. hzg1@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Gimnig
authors.affiliation: Centre for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, PO Box 1578, Kisumu, Kenya. NBayoh@kemricdc.org.|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PO Box 1578, Kisumu, Kenya. NBayoh@kemricdc.org.
authors.forename: Nabie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bayoh
authors.affiliation: Vector Biology Department, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. Aklilu_Seyoum@africairs.net.
authors.forename: Aklilu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seyoum
authors.affiliation: Vector Biology Department, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. chadsikaala@gmail.com.|National Malaria Control Centre, Chainama Hospital College Grounds, Off Great East Road, PO Box 32509, Lusaka, Zambia. chadsikaala@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Chadwick H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Sikaala
authors.affiliation: Ifakara Health Institute, PO Box 78373, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania. govella@ihi.or.tz.
authors.forename: Nicodem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Govella
authors.affiliation: Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme (CNRFP), 01 BP 2208, Ouagadougou 01, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. ddiallo@path.org.
authors.forename: Diadier A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Diallo
authors.affiliation: Ifakara Health Institute, PO Box 78373, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania. sabdulla@ihi.or.tz.
authors.forename: Salim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abdullah
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002, Basel, Switzerland. thomas.a-smith@unibas.ch.|University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, Basel, 4003, Switzerland. thomas.a-smith@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Ifakara Health Institute, PO Box 78373, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania. Gerry.Killeen@lstmed.ac.uk.|Vector Biology Department, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. Gerry.Killeen@lstmed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gerry F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Killeen
mesh_terms: D000351:Africa, Eastern; D000354:Africa, Western; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000502:physiology*; D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000502:physiology*; D008288:Malaria / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*; D009073:Mozambique; D014481:United States