Exploiting Anopheles responses to thermal, odour and visual stimuli to improve surveillance and control of malaria

Hawkes, Frances. M, Dabire, Roch. K, Sawadogo, Simon. P, Torr, Steve ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9550-4030 and Gibson, Gabriella (2017) 'Exploiting Anopheles responses to thermal, odour and visual stimuli to improve surveillance and control of malaria'. Scientific Reports, Vol 7, e17283.

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Abstract

Mosquito surveillance and control are at the heart of efforts to eliminate malaria, however, there remain significant gaps in our understanding of mosquito behaviour that impede innovation. We hypothesised that a combination of human-associated stimuli could be used to attract and kill malaria vectors more successfully than individual stimuli, and at least as well as a real human. To test this in the field, we quantified Anopheles responses to olfactory, visual and thermal stimuli in Burkina Faso using a simple adhesive trap. Traps baited with human odour plus high contrast visual stimuli caught more Anopheles than traps with odour alone, showing that despite their nocturnal habit, malaria vectors make use of visual cues in host-seeking. The best performing traps, however, combined odour and visual stimuli with a thermal signature in the range equivalent to human body temperature. When tested against a human landing catch during peak mosquito abundance, this “host decoy” trap caught nearly ten times the number of Anopheles mosquitoes caught by a human collector. Exploiting the behavioural responses of mosquitoes to the entire suite of host stimuli promises to revolutionise vector surveillance and provide new paradigms in disease control.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	QX Parasitology > QX 4 General works QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 510 Mosquitoes QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 515 Anopheles QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 600 Insect control. Tick control QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 650 Insect vectors WA Public Health > Preventive Medicine > WA 240 Disinfection. Disinfestation. Pesticides (including diseases caused by) WC Communicable Diseases > Tropical and Parasitic Diseases > WC 750 Malaria
Faculty: Department:	Biological Sciences > Vector Biology Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17632-3
Depositing User:	Stacy Murtagh
Date Deposited:	14 Dec 2017 14:10
Last Modified:	03 Jan 2018 10:44
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/7954

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