Reduced human-biting preferences of the African malaria vectors Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles gambiae in an urban context: controlled, competitive host preference experiments in Tanzania
| dc.contributor.author | Mlacha, Yeromin P. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Chaki, Prosper P. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Muhili, Athuman | |
| dc.contributor.author | Massue, Dennis J. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Tanner, Marcel | |
| dc.contributor.author | Majambere, Silas | |
| dc.contributor.author | Killeen, Gerry F. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Govella, Nicodem J. | |
| dc.contributor.funder | Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | en |
| dc.contributor.funder | Wellcome Trust | en |
| dc.contributor.funder | Medical Research Council | en |
| dc.contributor.funder | AXA Research Fund | en |
| dc.contributor.funder | Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students FCS | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-06-16T13:37:42Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-06-16T13:37:42Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-12 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2022-06-16T11:58:51Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | Background Host preference is a critical determinant of human exposure to vector-borne infections and the impact of vector control interventions. Widespread use of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) across sub-Saharan Africa, which protect humans against mosquitoes, may select for altered host preference traits of malaria vectors over the long term. Here, the host preferences of Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto (s.s.) were experimentally assessed in the field, using direct host-preference assays in two distinct ecological settings in Tanzania. Methods Eight Ifakara Tent Trap (ITT), four baited with humans and four with bovine calves, were simultaneously used to catch malaria vectors in open field sites in urban and rural Tanzania. The numbers of mosquitoes collected in human-baited traps versus calf-baited traps were used to estimate human feeding preference for each site's vector species. Results The estimated proportion [95% confidence interval (CI)] of mosquitoes attacking humans rather than cattle was 0.60 [0.40, 0.77] for An. arabiensis in the rural setting and 0.61 [0.32, 0.85] for An. gambiae s.s. in the urban setting, indicating no preference for either host in both cases (P = 0.32 and 0.46, respectively) and no difference in preference between the two (Odds Ratio (OR) [95%] = 0.95 [0.30, 3.01], P = 0.924). However, only a quarter of An. arabiensis in the urban setting attacked humans (0.25 [0.09, 0.53]), indicating a preference for cattle that approached significance (P = 0.08). Indeed, urban An. arabiensis were less likely to attack humans rather than cattle when compared to the same species in the rural setting (OR [95%] = 0.21 [0.05, 0.91], P = 0.037). Conclusion Urban An. arabiensis had a stronger preference for cattle than the rural population and urban An. gambiae s.s. showed no clear preference for either humans or cattle. In the urban setting, both species exhibited stronger tendencies to attack cattle than previous studies of the same species in rural contexts. Cattle keeping may, therefore, particularly limit the impact of human-targeted vector control interventions in Dar es Salaam and perhaps in other African towns and cities. | en |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Malaria Transmission Consortium, Award number 45114); AXA Research (Research Chair award); Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students FCS ((ESKAS), Ref Number: 2017.0786) | en |
| dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
| dc.description.version | Published Version | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.articleid | 418 | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | Mlacha, Y. P., Chaki, P. P., Muhili, A., Massue, D. J.,Tanner, M., Majambere, S., Killeen, G. F. and Govella, N. J. (2020) 'Reduced human-biting preferences of the African malaria vectors Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles gambiae in an urban context: controlled, competitive host preference experiments in Tanzania', Malaria Journal, 19, 418 (8pp). doi: 10.1186/s12936-020-03495-z | en |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.1186/s12936-020-03495-z | en |
| dc.identifier.endpage | 8 | en |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1475-2875 | |
| dc.identifier.journaltitle | Malaria Journal | en |
| dc.identifier.startpage | 1 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10468/13300 | |
| dc.identifier.volume | 19 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | BioMed Central | en |
| dc.relation.project | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/WT/Immune System in Health and Disease/089326//Realistic measures of insecticide resistance and avoidance in African malaria vector mosquitoes/ | en |
| dc.relation.project | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/UKRI/MRC/MR/T008873/1/GB/N Govella, Ifakara Health Institute, Integrating intervention targetable behaviours of malaria vectors to optimize interventions selection and impact/ | en |
| dc.rights | © The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data | en |
| dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | Blood-feeding behavior | en |
| dc.subject | Dar-es-salaam | en |
| dc.subject | Infection prevalence | en |
| dc.subject | Transmission | en |
| dc.subject | Mosquitos | en |
| dc.subject | Elimination | en |
| dc.subject | Coverage | en |
| dc.subject | Complex | en |
| dc.subject | Giles | en |
| dc.subject | Populations | en |
| dc.title | Reduced human-biting preferences of the African malaria vectors Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles gambiae in an urban context: controlled, competitive host preference experiments in Tanzania | en |
| dc.type | Article (peer-reviewed) | en |
