Field evaluation of spatial repellency of metofluthrin-impregnated plastic strips against Anopheles gambiae complex in Bagamoyo, coastal Tanzania.

Metofluthrin is a newly synthesized pyrethroid possessing high knockdown and lethal activity against mosquitoes. Studies of metofluthrin-impregnated plastic strips have been performed with dengue vectors. This study reports the efficacy of the new prototypes of metofluthrin-impregnated plastic strips against malaria vectors, Anopheles gambiae complex, in the Kongo villages of Bagamoyo district in coastal Tanzania.

Identification of four members of the Anopheles funestus (Diptera: Culicidae) group and their role in Plasmodium falciparum transmission in Bagamoyo coastal Tanzania.

The role of Anopheles funestus group in malaria transmission was investigated in Bagamoyo coastal Tanzania, in the process of characterizing the area as a malaria vaccine testing site. Mosquitoes were sampled inside houses and multiplex PCR was used to identify 649 specimens. The following species were found: A.

Monitoring chloroquine resistance using Plasmodium falciparum parasites isolated from wild mosquitoes in Tanzania.

Monitoring antimalarial drug resistance is a useful epidemiologic tool and provides early detection of resistance foci. Using DNA extracted from the head/thorax of wild mosquitoes collected from Bagamoyo Coastal Tanzania, samples infected by Plasmodium falciparum (N = 89, in 2002 and N = 249 in 2004) were screened by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay for mutations at Pfcrt76 and Pfmdr1-86 associated with chloroquine (CQ) resistance. The majority of isolates were of single infection (71%), and the prevalence of mutant alleles of Pfcrt76 decreased from 64.

Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine monotherapy in Tanzanian children gives rapid parasite clearance but slow fever clearance that is improved by chloroquine in combination therapy.

Following widespread chloroquine (CQ) resistance, sulfadoxine plus pyrimethamine (SP) is now the first line antimalarial drug in a number of African countries including Tanzania. Unlike CQ, SP has no antipyretic effects, a feature that might delay fever clearance, and by acting on late stage parasites, SP could theoretical be slow in parasite clearance. We therefore assessed the antipyretic effects of CQ in therapeutic combination with SP, and the speed of parasite clearance by SP in an open-labelled, randomized trial of CQ alone (n=39), SP alone (n=39), SP plus CQ (n=37) and SP plus paracetamol (PCM) (n=38) in children with uncomplicated malaria.

Urinary schistosomiasis in schoolchildren in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and the factors influencing its transmission.

The prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis among the schoolchildren living in Kigogo administrative ward of the Kinondoni district of Dar-es-Salaam city, Tanzania, and the factors influencing the transmission of the causative agent, Schistosoma haematobium, were investigated in a cross-sectional study. The estimate of overall prevalence, based on microscopical examination of a single urine sample/subject, was 47.6%.