Biting the hand that feeds: Anthropogenic drivers interactively make mosquitoes thrive.

Anthropogenic stressors on the environment are increasing at unprecedented rates and include urbanization, nutrient pollution, water management, altered land use and climate change. Their effects on disease vectors are poorly understood. A series of full factorial experiments investigated how key human induced abiotic pressures, and interactions between these, affect population parameters of the cosmopolitan disease vector, Culex pipiens s.l. Selected pressures include eutrophication, salinity, mean temperature, and temperature fluctuation. Data were collected for each individual pressure and for potential interactions between eutrophication, salinization and temperature. All experiments assessed survival, time to pupation, time to emergence, sex-ratio and ovipositioning behavior. The results show that stressors affect vector survival, may speed up development and alter female to male ratio, although large differences between stressors exist to quite different extents. While positive effects of increasing levels of eutrophication on survival were consistent, negative effects of salinity on survival were only apparent at higher temperatures, thus indicating a strong interaction effect between salinization and temperature. Temperature had no independent effect on larval survival. Overall, increasing eutrophication and temperatures, and the fluctuations thereof, lowered development rate, time to pupation and time to emergence while increasing levels of salinity increased development time. Higher levels of eutrophication positively impacted egg-laying behavior; the reverse was found for salinity while no effects of temperature on egg-laying behavior were observed. Results suggest large and positive impacts of anthropogenically induced habitat alterations on mosquito population dynamics. Many of these effects are exacerbated by increasing temperatures and fluctuations therein. In a world where eutrophication and salinization are increasingly abundant, mosquitoes are likely important benefactors. Ultimately, this study illustrates the importance of including multiple and combined stressors in predictive models as well as in prevention and mitigation strategies, particularly because they resonate with possible, but yet underdeveloped action plans.

Early biting rhythm in the Afro-tropical vector of malaria, Anopheles arabiensis, and challenges for its control in Ethiopia.

The biting cycle of the malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis Patton (Diptera: Culicidae) was assessed by hourly light trap collections in three villages in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Hourly catches were conducted in two houses in each village, for four consecutive nights. Light traps were set from 18.00 hours to 07.00 hours in houses in which people slept under untreated bednets. Anopheles arabiensis showed early biting activities, which peaked between 19.00 hours and 20.00 hours in the three villages; over 70% of biting activity occurred before 22.00 hours, when people typically retire to bed. This early biting activity may have a negative impact on the efficiency of bednets to control malaria.

Cryptosporidium and Giardia infection and drinking water sources among children in Lege Dini, Ethiopia.

We assessed the prevalence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia infections among children using protected and unprotected water sources in the Lege Dini watershed, Eastern Ethiopia, in November 2005 and May 2006. Of 655 children examined, 80 (12.2%) were infected with Cryptosporidium and 231 (35.3%) with Giardia. No difference was observed in the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis (P > 0.05) between children drinking water from protected and unprotected sources.

Evaluation of environmental methods to control snails in an irrigation system in Central Morocco.

The Moroccan Ministry of Public Health has launched a programme to eliminate schistosomiasis. One of the components in this process is the control of Bulinus truncatus, the intermediate host snail of Schistosoma haematobium. We evaluated three environmentally safe measures to control B. truncatus in siphon boxes, the main breeding sites for these snails in the Tessaout Amont irrigation system. The first method involved covering the siphon boxes to exclude light and reduce algal growth, the second consisted of increasing the frequency of emptying and cleaning the siphon boxes, and the third method increased water velocity to hinder the establishment of the intermediate hosts. The results showed that covering had a pronounced effect on snail and egg mass density, was accepted by the local community and prevented water contact. Cleaning the siphons three times during the irrigation season led to a reduction in snail density although it was not statistically significant and recolonization was rapid. Increasing water velocity by reducing the dimensions of siphon boxes delayed recolonization, but such a control measure can be applied only in specific situations where it does not pose hydraulic problems. The three interventions were selectively effective against B. truncatus, whereas other snails such as Physa acuta and Lymnaea peregra were hardly affected. Covering, the most promising control measure, could be useful in the Moroccan schistosomiasis eradication programme. However, further investigations are needed to assess its impact on water quality.