A New Test of a Theory about Old Mosquitoes

Smith, David L.; Musiime, Alex K.; Maxwell, Kilama; Lindsay, Steven W.; Kiware, Samson

Abstract

In vector control, it is widely accepted that killing adult mosquitoes would sharply reduce the proportion of old mosquitoes and cause the greatest changes to malaria transmission. The principle is based on a mathematical model of the sporozoite rate (the proportion of infective mosquitoes) that emphasized changes in mosquito age. Killing adult mosquitoes also reduces mosquito population densities, which are directly proportional to human biting rates (the number of bites, per person, per day). Eect sizes of vector control can be compared using sporozoite rates and human biting rates, which are commonly measured. We argue that human biting rates convey more use- ful information for planning, monitoring and evaluating vector control, and operational research should focus on understanding mosquito ecology.

Citation

Smith, D. L., Musiime, A. K., Maxwell, K., Lindsay, S. W., & Kiware, S. (2021). A New Test of a Theory about Old Mosquitoes. Trends in Parasitology, 37(3), 185-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2020.10.011

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 26, 2020
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 25, 2021
• Journal: Trends in Parasitology
• Print ISSN: 1471-4922
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-5007
• Publisher: Cell Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 185-194
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2020.10.011
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1278360