Targeting mosquito breeding sites could boost #malaria control efforts in Africa and Asia
In this review, researchers identified 13 eligible studies from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, plus one from Europe, that trialled various combinations of LSM methods in a wide variety of habitats and countries.
The authors' analysis of the data from Eritrea, The Gambia, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Greece suggested that where larval habitats are not too extensive and a sufficient proportion of these habitats can be targeted, LSM may reduce the number of cases of malaria and the proportion of people infected with the malaria parasite at any one time. The findings also suggest LSM could contribute to a reduction in the prevalence of splenomegaly in children (an enlargement of the spleen caused by repeated malaria infections).
LSM could therefore be particularly effective in urban areas, rural areas with high population densities or obvious breeding sites like small streams or swamps, highland regions and desert fringes. Interventions included adding larvicide to abandoned mine pits, streams, irrigation ditches and rice paddies where mosquitoes breed, and building dams, flushing streams and removing water containers from around people's homes.
Lead author, Lucy Tusting from the Department of Disease Control at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "This is the first time the evidence on larval source management for malaria control has been systematically reviewed, and our research shows that the method can be an effective supplementary measure against malaria in both urban and rural areas of Africa and Asia -- wherever it is possible to target a sufficient proportion of mosquito breeding sites..............
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