Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Parasit Vectors. 2013 Aug 9;6:235. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-6-235.
Low levels of relative humidity are known to decrease the lifespan of mosquitoes. However, most current models of malaria transmission do not account for the effects of relative humidity on mosquito survival. In the Sahel, where relative humidity drops to levels <20% for several months of the year, we expect relative humidity to play a significant role in shaping the seasonal profile of mosquito populations. Here, we present a new formulation for Anopheles gambiae sensu lato (s.l.) mosquito survival as a function of temperature and relative humidity and investigate the effect of humidity on simulated mosquito populations.
Using existing observations on relationships between temperature, relative humidity and mosquito longevity, we developed a new equation for mosquito survival as a function of temperature and relative humidity. We collected simultaneous field observations on temperature, wind, relative humidity, and anopheline mosquito populations for two villages from the Sahel region of Africa, which are presented in this paper. We apply this equation to the environmental data and conduct numerical simulations of mosquito populations using the Hydrology, Entomology and Malaria Transmission Simulator (HYDREMATS).
Relative humidity drops to levels that are uncomfortable for mosquitoes at the end of the rainy season. In one village, Banizoumbou, water pools dried up and interrupted mosquito breeding shortly after the end of the rainy season. In this case, relative humidity had little effect on the mosquito population. However, in the other village, Zindarou, the relatively shallow water table led to water pools that persisted several months beyond the end of the rainy season. In this case, the decrease in mosquito survival due to relative humidity improved the model's ability to reproduce the seasonal pattern of observed mosquito abundance.
We proposed a new equation to describe Anopheles gambiae s.l. mosquito survival as a function of temperature and relative humidity. We demonstrated that relative humidity can play a significant role in mosquito population and malaria transmission dynamics. Future modeling work should account for these effects of relative humidity.
已知低相对湿度会缩短蚊子的寿命。然而，大多数当前的疟疾传播模型并未考虑相对湿度对蚊子生存的影响。在萨赫勒地区，相对湿度在一年中的几个月下降到<20%的水平，我们预计相对湿度将在塑造蚊子种群的季节性特征方面发挥重要作用。在这里，我们提出了一种新的公式，用于描述冈比亚按蚊（s.l.）蚊子的生存与温度和相对湿度的关系，并研究湿度对模拟蚊子种群的影响。
利用现有关于温度、相对湿度和蚊子寿命之间关系的观测结果，我们开发了一个新的方程，用于描述蚊子的生存与温度和相对湿度的关系。我们收集了来自非洲萨赫勒地区两个村庄的温度、风、相对湿度和按蚊种群的同步现场观测数据，这些数据在本文中呈现。我们将该方程应用于环境数据，并使用 Hydrology, Entomology and Malaria Transmission Simulator（HYDREMATS）进行蚊子种群的数值模拟。
相对湿度在雨季结束时降至蚊子感到不适的水平。在一个村庄 Banizoumbou，雨后积水干涸，在雨季结束后不久就中断了蚊子的繁殖。在这种情况下，相对湿度对蚊子种群的影响很小。然而，在另一个村庄 Zindarou，相对较浅的地下水位导致雨后积水持续了几个月。在这种情况下，相对湿度对蚊子生存的影响降低了模型重现观察到的蚊子丰度季节性模式的能力。
我们提出了一个新的方程来描述冈比亚按蚊（s.l.）蚊子的生存与温度和相对湿度的关系。我们证明了相对湿度在蚊子种群和疟疾传播动态中可以发挥重要作用。未来的建模工作应该考虑到这些相对湿度的影响。
