Impact of urban agriculture on malaria vectors in Accra, Ghana.

To investigate the impact of urban agriculture on malaria transmission risk in urban Accra larval and adult stage mosquito surveys, were performed. Local transmission was implicated as Anopheles spp. were found breeding and infected Anopheles mosquitoes were found resting in houses in the study sites.

Importance of waste stabilization ponds and wastewater irrigation in the generation of vector mosquitoes in Pakistan.

The objective of the current study was to investigate the role of waste stabilization ponds (WSP) and wastewater-irrigated sites for the production of mosquitoes of medical importance. Mosquito larvae were collected fortnightly from July 2001 to June 2002 in Faisalabad, Pakistan. In total, 3,132 water samples from WSP and irrigated areas yielded 606,053 Culex larvae of five species.

Urban malaria and anaemia in children: a cross-sectional survey in two cities of Ghana.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of urban malaria, an emerging problem in sub-Saharan Africa.

Method: Cross-sectional surveys of communities in Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, determining risk factors for malaria infection and anaemia in children aged 6-60 months.

Results: Malaria prevalence rates ranged from 2% to 33% between urban communities.

Food of larval Anopheles culicifacies and Anopheles varuna in a stream habitat in Sri Lanka.

No previous studies have been conducted on the natural food of larval Anopheles culicifacies s.l. (the major malaria vector) and An.

Optimizing malarial epidemiological studies in areas of low transmission.

Malaria risk factor studies have traditionally used microscopy readings of blood slides as the measure of malaria infection in humans, although alternatives are available. There is the need for an assessment of how the use of these alternative diagnostic approaches will influence the efficiency and significance of epidemiological studies. In an area of Sri Lanka with known risk factors for malaria, two cross-sectional surveys were done at the start and at the peak of transmission season.

Giardia duodenalis infection and wastewater irrigation in Pakistan.

The risk of Giardia duodenalis (Giardia) infection in farmers using untreated wastewater in agriculture was investigated in the city of Faisalabad, Pakistan, through a cross-sectional study. The study found a significantly increased risk of (asymptomatic) Giardia infection in wastewater farming households when compared with farming households using regular (non-wastewater) irrigation water (OR 3.3, 95% CI 2.

Physico-chemical characteristics of Anopheles culicifacies and Anopheles varuna breeding water in a dry zone stream in Sri Lanka.

Background & Objectives: Selected physico-chemical characteristics of flowing and pooled water in a stream that generated two malaria vectors, Anopheles culicifacies s.l. Giles and Anopheles varuna Iyengar, were investigated during August-September 1997 and July 1998 at the Upper Yan Oya watershed in north-central Sri Lanka.

Malaria and irrigated crops, Accra, Ghana.

We investigated the prevalence of malaria and associated risk factors in children living in urban Ghana. Malaria prevalence was associated with low hemoglobin concentration, low socioeconomic status, and higher age. Our findings indicate that African urban poor are seriously affected by malaria and that irrigated agriculture may increase this risk.

High risk of hookworm infection among wastewater farmers in Pakistan.

The health risks of wastewater use in agriculture were investigated in the city of Faisalabad, Pakistan, by means of a cross-sectional study. The study showed an increased risk of intestinal nematode infection and hookworm infection, in particular, in wastewater farmers (OR = 31.4, 95% CI 4.

Maps of the Sri Lanka malaria situation preceding the tsunami and key aspects to be considered in the emergency phase and beyond.

Background: Following the tsunami, a detailed overview of the area specific transmission levels is essential in assessing the risk of malaria in Sri Lanka. Recent information on vector insecticide resistance, parasite drug resistance, and insights into the national policy for malaria diagnosis and treatment are important in assisting national and international agencies in their control efforts.

Methods: Monthly records over the period January 1995-October 2004 of confirmed malaria cases were used to perform an analysis of malaria distribution at district spatial resolution.

Adult anopheline ecology and malaria transmission in irrigated areas of South Punjab, Pakistan.

Surface irrigation in the Punjab province of Pakistan has been carried out on a large scale since the development of the Indus Basin Irrigation System in the late 19th century. The objective of our study was to understand how the population dynamics of adult anopheline mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) could be related to malaria transmission in rural areas with intensive irrigation and a history of malaria epidemics. In this paper we present our observations from three villages located along an irrigation canal in South Punjab.

Human otoacariasis: a retrospective study from an area of Sri Lanka.

Intra-aural ticks were present in 870 (15.2%) of 5714 patients who reported with ear-related complaints to the ear, nose and throat ward at Ratnapura Hospital, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, from January 2000 to December 2001. A retrospective study of 383 of these otoacariasis cases showed that the majority (70.

Malaria vectors in the changing environment of the southern Punjab, Pakistan.

The Pakistani Punjab experienced several devastating malaria epidemics during the twentieth century. Since the 1980s, however, malaria has been at a low ebb, while in other areas of Pakistan and neighbouring India malaria is on the increase. This raises the question of whether transmission in the Pakistani Punjab may have been influenced by a change in vector species abundance or composition, possibly induced by environmental changes.

A malaria risk analysis in an irrigated area in Sri Lanka.

Malaria in Sri Lanka is unstable and epidemic, with large spatial and temporal differences in transmission dynamics. The disease is of great public health significance and identification of underlying risk factors is important in order to use the limited resources in a cost-effective way. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) recently launched a project of GIS-based malaria risk mapping in Sri Lanka, to investigate whether this tool could be used for epidemic forecasting and for the planning of malaria control activities.

Engineering and malaria control: learning from the past 100 years.

Traditionally, engineering and environment-based interventions have contributed to the prevention of malaria in Asia. However, with the introduction of DDT and other potent insecticides, chemical control became the dominating strategy. The renewed interest in environmental-management-based approaches for the control of malaria vectors follows the rapid development of resistance by mosquitoes to the widely used insecticides, the increasing cost of developing new chemicals, logistical constraints involved in the implementation of residual-spraying programs and the environmental concerns linked to the use of persistent organic pollutants.

Role of wastewater irrigation in mosquito breeding in south Punjab, Pakistan.

Mosquito breeding within the wastewater irrigation system around the town of Haroonabad in the southern Punjab, Pakistan, was studied from July to September 2000 as part of a wider study of the costs and benefits of wastewater use in agriculture. The objective of this study was to assess the vector-borne human disease risks associated with mosquito species utilizing wastewater for breeding. Mosquito larvae were collected on a fortnightly basis from components of the wastewater disposal system and irrigated sites.

Sri Lanka malaria maps.

Background: Despite a relatively good national case reporting system in Sri Lanka, detailed maps of malaria distribution have not been publicly available.

Methods: In this study, monthly records over the period 1995 - 2000 of microscopically confirmed malaria parasite positive blood film readings, at sub-district spatial resolution, were used to produce maps of malaria distribution across the island. Also, annual malaria trends at district resolution were displayed for the period 1995 - 2002.

Towards a risk map of malaria for Sri Lanka: the importance of house location relative to vector breeding sites.

Background: In Sri Lanka, the major malaria vector Anopheles culicifacies breeds in pools formed in streams and river beds and it is likely that people living close to such breeding sites are at higher risk of malaria than people living further away. This study was done to quantify the importance of house location relative to vector breeding sites for the occurrence of malaria in order to assess the usefulness of this parameter in future malaria risk maps. Such risk maps could be important tools for planning efficient malaria control measures.

Strong association between house characteristics and malaria vectors in Sri Lanka.

The objective of this study was to determine whether house characteristics could be used to further refine the residual insecticide-spraying program in Sri Lanka. Indoor-resting mosquito densities were estimated in 473 houses based on fortnightly collections over a two-and-a-half-year period. The type of house construction and the exact location of all houses were determined.

Keys to the Anopheline mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) of Pakistan.

This article provides taxonomic keys for the identification of the fourth-instar larvae and females of 24 species of anopheline mosquitoes (seven species in subgenus Anopheles and 17 species in subgenus Cellia) recorded from Pakistan. The keys are based on literature sources as well as the examination of field and museum collections.

Breeding of Anopheles mosquitoes in irrigated areas of South Punjab, Pakistan.

As part of investigations on potential linkages between irrigation and malaria transmission, all surface water bodies in and around three villages along an irrigation distributary in South Punjab, Pakistan, were surveyed for anopheline mosquito larvae (Diptera: Culicidae) from April 1999 to March 2000. Samples were characterized according to exposure to sunlight, substratum, presence of vegetation, fauna, inorganic matter and physical water condition (clear/turbid/foul). Also water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), electroconductivity (EC) and pH of sites were recorded.

A village treatment center for malaria: community response in Sri Lanka.

Early diagnosis and treatment of malaria cases is one of the basic elements of the current global malaria control strategy. In order to provide this service to people in rural areas there is a need for new cost-effective approaches. To ensure that such new approaches are acceptable to the target communities, it is important to know the rationale for people's malaria treatment-seeking behavior.

Multiple host feeding in field populations of Anopheles culicifacies and An. subpictus in Sri Lanka.

A histological technique was used to detect the multiple blood-feeding of female mosquitoes, within the same gonotrophic cycle, in field populations of the malaria vectors Anopheles culicifacies and An. subpictus (Diptera: Culicidae) at a village in the low country of Sri Lanka, during 1994-96. Among 3306 An.

Malaria vectors in a traditional dry zone village in Sri Lanka.

Malaria transmission by anopheline mosquitoes was studied in a traditional tank-irrigation-based rice-producing village in the malaria-endemic low country dry zone of northcentral Sri Lanka during the period August 1994-February 1997. Adult mosquitoes were collected from human and bovid bait catches, bovid-baited trap huts, indoor catches, and pit traps. Mosquito head-thoraces were tested for the presence of Plasmodium falciparum and P.