Publications by authors named "J L Githure"
Article Synopsis
- The study highlights the issue of insecticide resistance among malaria vector mosquitoes in urban settings of Kisumu County, Kenya, where rising urbanization impacts control effectiveness.
- Urban areas showed a significant dominance of Anopheles arabiensis, demonstrating high resistance to deltamethrin, while An. gambiae was more prevalent in rural settings.
- The study employed various methods including WHO susceptibility tests and genetic analysis to reveal the underlying mechanisms of resistance, indicating a need for targeted vector control strategies in urban populations.
Background: Increasing urbanization in tropical Africa may create new niches for malaria vectors, potentially leading to higher disease transmission rates. Vector control efforts remain largely targeted at ecologically rural bio-complexities with multiple hosts. Understanding mosquito species composition, ecology, host diversity and biting behavior in urban areas is crucial for planning effective control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Understanding of malaria ecology is a prerequisite for designing locally adapted control strategies in resource-limited settings. The aim of this study was to utilize the spatial heterogeneity in malaria transmission for the designing of adaptive interventions.
Methods: Field collections of clinical malaria incidence, asymptomatic Plasmodium infection, and malaria vector data were conducted from 108 randomly selected clusters which covered different landscape settings including irrigated farming, seasonal flooding area, lowland dryland farming, and highlands in western Kenya.
Knowledge of insect dispersal is relevant to the control of agricultural pests, vector-borne transmission of human and veterinary pathogens, and insect biodiversity. Previous studies in a malaria endemic area of the Sahel region in West Africa revealed high-altitude, long-distance migration of insects and various mosquito species. The objective of the current study was to assess whether similar behavior is exhibited by mosquitoes and other insects around the Lake Victoria basin region of Kenya in East Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- In western Kenya, malaria cases are often underreported, which impacts the distribution of resources and evaluation of health interventions, leading to a study on community health volunteers' (CHVs) role in detecting and managing malaria.
- The study surveyed 28,800 residents across different regions in Kisumu to identify individuals with malaria symptoms through biweekly household visits conducted by CHVs.
- Results showed a 9% prevalence of febrile illnesses linked to malaria; factors like eco-epidemiological zones and the training level of CHVs significantly influenced their ability to effectively manage cases and refer patients for further care.