Publications

BACKGROUND: A fundamental understanding of the spatial distribution and ecology of mosquito larvae is essential for effective vector control intervention strategies. In this study, data-driven decision tree models, generalized linear models and ordination analysis were used to identify the most important biotic and abiotic factors that affect the occurrence and abundance of mosquito larvae in Southwest Ethiopia. METHODS: In total, 220 samples ...

Background Although effective topical repellents provide personal protection against malaria, whether mass use of topical repellents in addition to long-lasting insecticidal nets can contribute to a further decline of malaria is not
known, particularly in areas where outdoor transmission occurs. We aimed to assess the epidemiological efficacy of a highly effective topical repellent in addition to long-lasting insecticidal nets in reducing ...

Arboviruses are capable to establish long-term persistent infections in mosquitoes that do not affect significantly the physiology of the insect vectors. Arbovirus infections are controlled by the RNAi machinery via the production of viral siRNAs and the formation of RISC complexes targeting viral genomes and mRNAs. Engineered arboviruses that contain cellular gene sequences can therefore be transformed to "viral silencing vectors" for studies ...

Background: This paper studies the effect of mosquito abundance and malaria incidence in the last 3 weeks, and their interaction, on the hazard of time to malaria in a previously studied cohort of children in Ethiopia. Methods: We model the mosquito abundance and time to malaria data jointly in a Bayesian framework. Results: We found that the interaction of mosquito abundance and incidence plays a prominent role on malaria risk. We quantify and ...

Malaria is one of the public health problems in the world. More than 3.3 billion people are at risk of malaria. Children under the age of five year, and pregnant women are most severely affected. The disease is transmitted to human through the bite of an infected female mosquito of the genus Anopheles. Nowadays Long-Lasting Insecticidal Mosquito Nets (LNs) are the most popular and useful tools for malaria control. At the same time LNs face some ...

Background: Vector control remains the most important tool to prevent malaria transmission. However, it is now severely constrained by the appearance of physiological and behavioral insecticide resistance. Therefore, the development of new vector control tools is warranted. Such tools could include immunization of blood hosts of vector mosquitoes with mosquito proteins involved in midgut homeostasis (anti-mosquito vaccines) or genetic ...