Water-related insect vectors of disease *
Jamie Bartram, Rachel Baum, Peter A. Coclanis, David M. Gute, David Kay, Stéphanie McFadyen, Katherine Pond, William Robertson, Michael J. Rouse in Routledge Handbook of Water and Health, 2015
Malaria is caused by single-celled protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. In 2010, there were an estimated 219 million cases worldwide resulting in 660,000 deaths (World Health Organization, 2012). Most (90 percent) of the malaria deaths are in Africa, primarily because of the anthropophilic (human-biting) nature of the dominant African vector mosquitoes Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles arabiensis(collectively termed Anopheles gambiae sensu lato), as well as the predominance in Africa of Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly of the five human malaria species (P falciparum, P vivax, P malariae, P ovale, P knowlesi).
Will he be there?
Ann H. Kelly, P. Wenzel Geissler in The Value of Transnational Medical Research, 2013
The investigative focus of the UMCP is the effectiveness of larval control in reducing the incidence of malaria in Dar es Salaam. The active agent on trial is Bti, a microbial insecticide. In contrast to DDT, Bti is safe for nontarget organisms and because it contains multiple toxins, its use is less likely to result in resistance. But while highly effective in killing mosquito larvae, with little residual activity, Bti must be re-applied on a weekly basis. To prove the effectiveness of Bti as a viable instrument of disease control, the principal investigator required up-to-date evidence of mosquito densities across the city. For this purpose, the Human Landing Catch (HLC) is considered the most reliable technique (Okumu et al. 2008). The key methodological advantage of the HLC is that mosquitoes are caught as they come to feed. Thus, in contrast to those captured by a light trap, the samples obtained can be deemed representative of disease transmission. HLC is also cheap and relatively simple; an aspirator (a mesh-covered glass vial attached to a rubber sucking tube), cotton wool, some rubber bands, a few plastic cups, a source of light and a human volunteer are the only necessary equipment. As most anopheles gambiae – the most common malaria vector – are nocturnal, HLCs perform their duties between sunset and sunrise. Customarily, the HLC is conducted within homes and can be reinforced or supplemented by a bed-net trap. But after decades of spraying homes with insecticide and covering beds with insecticide-treated nets, Dar es Salaam’s mosquito populations, once domestic, now seek their hosts in the streets. Therefore, in the context of the UMCP, placing HLCs outdoors is the only way of collecting accurate evidence.
Dams, irrigation and health
Sandy Cairncross, Richard Feachem in Environmental Health Engineering in the Tropics, 2018
Table 16.1 lists the mosquitoes which may be affected by irrigation development and relates them to their role as vectors of arboviruses, malaria and filariasis. Figure 16.1 depicts the changes in human-biting mosquitoes that resulted from irrigation in Kenya. Of special importance is the increase in Anopheles gambiae which is the major African vector of malaria and also carries arboviral infections and Bancroftian filariasis.
Cellular mechanisms regulating synthetic sex ratio distortion in the Anopheles gambiae germline
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2020
Roya Elaine Haghighat-Khah, Atashi Sharma, Mariana Reis Wunderlich, Giulia Morselli, Louise Anna Marston, Christopher Bamikole, Ann Hall, Nace Kranjc, Chrysanthi Taxiarchi, Igor Sharakhov, Roberto Galizi
Malaria is one of the most severe global health problems. Caused by the Plasmodium parasite, malaria was responsible for an estimated 435,000 deaths in 2017, mostly in Africa [1]. The Anopheles gambiae complex includes the most efficient vectors of human malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Only the female mosquitoes take human blood meals to obtain essential nutrients for the development of their eggs and transmit the malaria-causing parasites during an infective bite. The use of genetic control to reduce the population of malaria vectors offers a new promising tool to complement existing mosquito control strategies that aim to reduce the public health burden of malaria. One of the most powerful genetic control approaches proposed, known as sex ratio distortion (SD), requires the development of fully fertile Anopheles male mosquitoes that are able to produce a normal number of progenies but mostly consisting of males. Their release in wild populations would cause a progressive reduction in the number of malaria-transmitting females and, at the same time, diminish their population size. Naturally occurring male-biased SD systems (also defined as natural ‘meiotic drivers’), found in Aedes aegypti [2] and Culex pipiens [3] males, are associated with preferential breakage of sex chromosomes during the first meiotic division [2,3].
Bio-efficacy of ultrasound exposure against immature stages of common house mosquitoes under laboratory conditions
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2020
Mohammad Sistanizadeh-Aghdam, Mohammad Reza Abai, Mansoureh Shayeghi, Amir Hossein Mahvi, Ahmad Raeisi
It has also been reported that ultrasound irradiation may produce a combination of chemical, thermal, and mechanical effects on biological systems (Kratochvil and Mornstein 2006). An experimental study of the adult stage of Anopheles gambiae was carried out in adult stage of An. gambiae using a combination of an air conditioner (AC) and an inbuilt ultrasonic device (AC-UD) in order to assess knockdown and mortality rates in a excite-repellency test chamber including ‘fan ON + ultrasonic ON’, ‘fan ON + ultrasonic OFF’, and ‘fan OFF + ultrasonic ON’ as independent variables. The results showed that a combination of the ultrasonic device and fan ON was relatively more effective (62.7%) on knocking down and/or expelling Anopheles gambiae after 24 hours. The findings indicated that turning on both the ultrasonic device and the air conditioner was more effective for personal protection against mosquitoes in the indoor situation (Okorie et al. 2015). Two types of commercially available devices emitting ultrasound waves were evaluated as the physical larvicides against Culex larvae and the results showed 84–100% larval mortality without any side effects on non-target aquatic organisms (Fredregill et al. 2015).
Anion inhibition studies of a beta carbonic anhydrase from the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae
Published in Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, 2018
Daniela Vullo, Leo Syrjänen, Marianne Kuuslahti, Seppo Parkkila, Claudiu T. Supuran
β-CAs were first reported from two invertebrate species: the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the worm Caenorhabditis elegans9,10. Additionally, a β-CA was characterised from the unicellular parasite Leishmania donovani chagasi which is one of the causative agents for visceral leishmaniasis11. Previously two α-CAs have been characterised from the mosquito Anopheles gambiae12,13. Despite the recent finding that Leishmania parasites encode β-CAs, some protozoan parasites possess only α- or η-CAs. For example, P. falciparum seems to encode only the η-CAs14. The exact expression pattern of β-CAs in protozoan organisms is currently unclear, even though a previous report suggested the presence of this enzyme family in a number of protozoans and metazoans14c. Recently, α-CA was characterised from unicellular protozoa responsible of Chagas’ disease, Trypanosoma cruzi15.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Anopheles
- Comparative Anatomy
- Malaria
- Plasmodium Falciparum
- Wuchereria Bancrofti
- Elephantiasis
- Lymphatic Filariasis
- Species Complex
- Mosquito
- Sensu