Variation in natural exposure to anopheles mosquitoes and its effects on malaria transmission

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Résumé

Variation in biting frequency by Anopheles mosquitoes can explain some of the heterogeneity in malaria transmission in endemic areas. In this study in Burkina Faso, we assessed
natural exposure to mosquitoes by matching the genotype of blood meals from 1066 mosquitoeswith blood from residents of local households. We observed that the distribution of mosquito bites exceeded the Pareto rule (20/80) in two of the three surveys performed (20/85, 76, and 96) and, at its most pronounced, is estimated to have profound epidemiological consequences, inflating the basic reproduction number of malaria by 8-fold. The distribution of bites from sporozoite-positiv mosquitoes followed a similar pattern, with a small number of individuals within households receiving multiple potentially infectious bites over the period of a few days. Together, our findings
indicate that heterogeneity in mosquito exposure contributes considerably to heterogeneity in infection risk and suggest significant variation in malaria transmission potential

Mots-clés

Anopheles , exposure, malaria transmission