LSTM Home > LSTM Research > LSTM Online Archive

The Buen Pastor cemetery in Trujillo, Venezuela: measuring dengue vector output from a public area.

Abe, Mayumi, McCall, Philip ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0007-3985, Lenhart, Audrey, Villegas, Elci and Kroeger, Axel (2005) 'The Buen Pastor cemetery in Trujillo, Venezuela: measuring dengue vector output from a public area.'. Tropical Medicine & International Health, Vol 10, Issue 6, pp. 597-603.

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

As vector control of dengue typically targets individual households to eliminate breeding sites or control adult mosquitoes during epidemics, public spaces are frequently neglected. To investigate the importance of such places as sources of dengue vectors, a study of Aedes aegypti productivity in a cemetery in northern Venezuela, using standard entomological indices for assessing dengue vector infestations, was carried out in the wet season in May 2003. Containers were found on 72.8% of graves; 44% of the containers held water and in 46.9% of these we found A. aegypti larvae and/or pupae. The average density of Aedes-infested containers was 39 per hectare. There were no significant differences in infestation rates between container types (vases, planters or others) or materials (cement, plastic, glass, etc.). Containers with 1-5 l of water held the greatest proportion of the pupae found in the cemetery (46.7%); containers with <100 ml of water contained no pupae. The mean number of pupae produced in the cemetery was estimated at 4185 pupae/ha per 48 h and the daily output of potential vector mosquitoes from the entire cemetery was calculated at approximately 3000 females per day. These mosquitoes presumably left the cemetery to feed in the nearby communities, thus thwarting the environmental management and health education programmes that had reduced household dengue vector infestations. The study shows the importance of public places as sources of dengue vectors in urban areas, and the need to include such areas in vector control programmes.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: WA Public Health > Sanitation. Environmental Control > General Sanitation and Environmental Control > WA 670 General works
WA Public Health > WA 20.5 Research (General)
WA Public Health > Housing. Buildings. Public Facilities > WA 799 Public buildings
WA Public Health > Preventive Medicine > WA 110 Prevention and control of communicable diseases. Transmission of infectious diseases
WC Communicable Diseases > Virus Diseases > Infectious Mononucleosis. Arbovirus Infections > WC 528 Dengue
QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 525 Aedes
Faculty: Department: Biological Sciences > Vector Biology Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI): https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2005.01428.x
Depositing User: Users 183 not found.
Date Deposited: 30 Mar 2010 17:50
Last Modified: 17 Jul 2020 10:56
URI: https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/987

Statistics

View details

Actions (login required)

Edit Item Edit Item