Transmission of malaria in the Tesseney area of Eritrea: parasite prevalence in children, and vector density, host preferences, and sporozoite rate.

Malaria transmission was studied from July to September, 2002 in three villages of the Tesseney sub-zone, in the western lowlands of Eritrea. The three methods used for mosquito collection were light traps, pyrethrum spray catches, and pit shelter collections. All anopheline mosquitoes that were collected belonged to the Anopheles gambiae complex and they were identified by PCR as the sibling species Anopheles arabiensis (Patton).

Ethnobotanical survey and testing of plants traditionally used against hematophagous insects in Eritrea.

An ethnobotanical study was conducted to find plants traditionally used against nuisance insects in three regions of Eritrea: highland, eastern escarpment and wet lowland. Six plants were collected, two of them were reported to be used against mosquitoes (Ocimum forskolei, Lamiaceae and Nicotiana glauca, Solanaceae), two others against fleas (Salvia shimperi, Lamiaceae and Otostegia integrifolia, Lamiaceae) and Neorautanenia mitis (Fabaceae) and Calpurnea aurea (Fabaceae) against animal lice. The effect of fresh leaves and shoots of O.