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). Apart from An. arabiensis, the only other mosquitoes caught were culicines. The vector population increased greatly for about a month after the start of the rains. The anthropophilic indices obtained from the blood-fed An. arabiensis resting indoors and outdoors were only 20% and 25%, respectively, with most of the other meals on goats. ELISA for P. falciparum circurnsporozoite protein revealed only one positive out of 1 026 tested. The malaria prevalence among children < 10 years was only 3.3% (all P. falciparum) from 300 slides examined. These low rates seem to reflect recent success in malaria control in Eritrea.