Risk of malaria reemergence in southern France: testing scenarios with a multiagent simulation model.

The Camargue, a region in southern France, is considered a potential site for malaria reemergence. All the suitable factors of the disease transmission system are present -- competent mosquito vectors, habitats for their breeding, and susceptible people -- except for the parasite. The objective of this study was to test potential drivers of malaria reemergence in this system after possible changes in biological attributes of vectors, agricultural practices, land use, tourism activities, and climate.

A quantitative risk assessment approach for mosquito-borne diseases: malaria re-emergence in southern France.

Background: The Camargue region is a former malaria endemic area, where potential Anopheles vectors are still abundant. Considering the importation of Plasmodium due to the high number of imported malaria cases in France, the aim of this article was to make some predictions regarding the risk of malaria re-emergence in the Camargue.

Methods: Receptivity (vectorial capacity) and infectivity (vector susceptibility) were inferred using an innovative probabilistic approach and considering both Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax.

Using remote sensing to map larval and adult populations of Anopheles hyrcanus (Diptera: Culicidae) a potential malaria vector in Southern France.

Background: Although malaria disappeared from southern France more than 60 years ago, suspicions of recent autochthonous transmission in the French Mediterranean coast support the idea that the area could still be subject to malaria transmission. The main potential vector of malaria in the Camargue area, the largest river delta in southern France, is the mosquito Anopheles hyrcanus (Diptera: Culicidae). In the context of recent climatic and landscape changes, the evaluation of the risk of emergence or re-emergence of such a major disease is of great importance in Europe.

Effects of local anthropogenic changes on potential malaria vector Anopheles hyrcanus and West Nile virus vector Culex modestus, Camargue, France.

Using historical data, we highlight the consequences of anthropogenic ecosystem modifications on the abundance of mosquitoes implicated as the current most important potential malaria vector, Anopheles hyrcanus, and the most important West Nile virus (WNV) vector, Culex modestus, in the Camargue region, France. From World War II to 1971, populations of these species increased as rice cultivation expanded in the region in a political context that supported agriculture. They then fell, likely because of decreased cultivation and increased pesticide use to control a rice pest.

Possible autochthonous malaria from Marseille to Minneapolis.

We report 2 cases of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in southern France in a French woman and an American man of Togolese origin who reported no recent travel to malaria-endemic countries. Both infections occurred after a stay near Marseille, which raises the possibility of autochthonous transmission. Entomologic and genotypic investigations are described.

Biology and dynamics of potential malaria vectors in Southern France.

Background: Malaria is a former endemic problem in the Camargue, South East France, an area from where very few recent data concerning Anopheles are available. A study was undertaken in 2005 to establish potential malaria vector biology and dynamics and evaluate the risk of malaria re-emergence.

Methods: Mosquitoes were collected in two study areas, from March to October 2005, one week every two weeks, using light traps+CO2, horse bait traps, human bait catch, and by collecting females in resting sites.

Rainfall patterns and population dynamics of Aedes (Aedimorphus) vexans arabiensis, Patton 1905 (Diptera: Culicidae), a potential vector of Rift Valley Fever virus in Senegal.

The importance of rainfall for the development of Aedes vexans arabiensis populations, one of the potential vectors of Rift Valley Fever in West Africa, was demonstrated in a two-year follow-up study conducted in the Ferlo region of Senegal. In 2003, the rainy season began with heavy rains and, as a result, temporary ponds, the breeding places for mosquitoes, were flooded at their maximum level immediately. In such conditions, Aedes vexans arabiensis populations are abundant at the very beginning of the season, when the majority of eggs in quiescence are flooded.

Intraspecific nucleotide variation in Anopheles gambiae: new insights into the biology of malaria vectors.

The Anopheles gambiae genome sequence, together with the recent development of molecular tools for genome-wide analysis, promises new insights into the biology of the malaria vector. These insights should help define the best possible breakdown point for interrupting transmission in the mosquito vector. A survey of the intraspecific nucleotide diversity in coding regions of three different mosquito strains showed an average of one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) every 125 coding base pairs.