1 – Trop Med Int Health. 2009 Feb;14(2):220-7.
Aedes aegypti in Jamaica, West Indies: container productivity profiles to inform control strategies.
Chadee DD, Huntley S, Focks DA, Chen AA.
Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies. dave.chadee@sta.uwi.edu
OBJECTIVE: To describe the Aedes aegypti container profile in the three parishes of Portland, St. Anns and St. Catherine, Jamaica.
METHOD: Traditional stegomyia and pupae per person indices. RESULTS: A total of 8855 containers were inspected. A. aegypti were breeding in 19.2% of the 4728 containers in Portland, in 6.7% of the 2639 containers in St. Ann, and in 27.2% of the 1488 containers in Tryhall Heights, St. Catherine. Container types differed between Portland (P > 0.02) on one hand and St. Ann and Tryhall Heights, St. Catherine on the other hand: there were with no vases or potted plants with water saucers in St. Ann and St. Catherine. A. aegypti were breeding in more containers in St. Catherine (38%) (38% in wet season and 21% in the dry season) than in Portland (19%) or St. Ann (6%), both of which had more containers but A. aegypti breeding in fewer: 17.7% and 11.2% in the wet and 20.4% and 3.5% in the dry seasons respectively. The daily production of adult mosquitoes in the three study sites was 1.51, 1.29 and 0.66 adult female mosquitoes per person in Portland, St. Ann and St. Catherine during the dry season and 1.12, 0.23 and 1.04 female mosquitoes per person in the wet season respectively.
CONCLUSION: All three communities are at risk for dengue outbreaks and vector control should concentrate on reducing the mosquito populations from the most productive containers before a new dengue virus serotype is introduced into Jamaica.
2 – Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 2009 Mar;103(2):149-57.
The socio-demographic, environmental and reservoir factors associated with leptospirosis in an urban area of north-eastern Brazil.
Oliveira DS, Guimarães MJ, Portugal JL, Medeiros Z.
In an ecological study based on the 18 microregions that form the city of Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, associations between socio-demographic, environmental and reservoir factors and the incidence of leptospirosis in the city were investigated. Incidence over a 5-year period (2001-2005) and 14 variables were analysed, using central trend and dispersion measurements, Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear regression. Variables relating to education, income, housing type, sewage system, rubbish collection and hydrographic factors were found to be significantly correlated with leptospirosis incidence (P<0.05 for each). Just two variables – the proportion of heads of households with incomes less than or equal to the legal minimum (U.S.$83.55/month), and the proportion of households from which rubbish was dumped in skips, lakes, rivers or the sea or on vacant land – explained 60% (P=0.017) of the differences in disease risk observed between the various areas of the city.
