Subject(s)
Disease Eradication , Malaria/prevention & control , Animals , Anopheles/parasitology , Argentina/epidemiology , Communicable Disease Control/economics , Communicable Disease Control/history , Communicable Disease Control/methods , Communicable Diseases, Imported/history , Communicable Diseases, Imported/prevention & control , Communicable Diseases, Imported/transmission , Disease Eradication/history , Endemic Diseases , Health Policy , History, 16th Century , History, 17th Century , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Insect Bites and Stings/parasitology , Insect Vectors/parasitology , Malaria/epidemiology , Malaria/history , Malaria/transmission , Mosquito Control/economics , Mosquito Control/history , Mosquito Control/methodsABSTRACT
The study sites for the West African ICEMR are in three countries (The Gambia, Senegal, Mali) and are located within 750 km of each other. In addition, the National Malaria Control Programmes of these countries have virtually identical policies: (1) Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) for the treatment of symptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infection, (2) Long-Lasting Insecticide-treated bed Nets (LLINs) to reduce the Entomololgic Inoculation Rate (EIR), and (3) sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine for the Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria during pregnancy (IPTp). However, the prevalence of P. falciparum malaria and the status of malaria control vary markedly across the four sites with differences in the duration of the transmission season (from 4-5 to 10-11 months), the intensity of transmission (with EIRs from unmeasurably low to 4-5 per person per month), multiplicity of infection (from a mean of 1.0 to means of 2-5) and the status of malaria control (from areas which have virtually no control to areas that are at the threshold of malaria elimination). The most important priority is the need to obtain comparable data on the population-based prevalence, incidence and transmission of malaria before new candidate interventions or combinations of interventions are introduced for malaria control.
Subject(s)
Communicable Disease Control/legislation & jurisprudence , Health Policy/legislation & jurisprudence , Malaria, Falciparum/prevention & control , Africa, Western/epidemiology , Animals , Antimalarials/pharmacology , Artemisinins/pharmacology , Communicable Disease Control/organization & administration , Culicidae/drug effects , Culicidae/parasitology , Disease Transmission, Infectious/prevention & control , Drug Combinations , Female , Humans , Insect Bites and Stings/parasitology , Insecticide-Treated Bednets , Insecticides/pharmacology , Malaria, Falciparum/drug therapy , Malaria, Falciparum/epidemiology , Malaria, Falciparum/parasitology , National Health Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , National Health Programs/organization & administration , Plasmodium falciparum/pathogenicity , Pregnancy , Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic/drug therapy , Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic/parasitology , Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic/prevention & control , Prevalence , Pyrimethamine/therapeutic use , Seasons , Sulfadoxine/therapeutic useABSTRACT
The text summarizes the principal current fields of investigation and the recent achievements of the research groups presently contributing to the Molecular Entomology Cluster of the Italian Malaria Network. Particular emphasis is given to the researches with a more direct impact on the fight against malaria vectors.