Location, seasonal and functional characteristics of water-holding containers with juvenile Aedes albopictus in urban southern Taiwan: a cross-sectional study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Location, seasonal and functional characteristics of water-holding containers with juvenile Aedes albopictus in urban southern Taiwan

T2 - a cross-sectional study

AU - Lin, Chia-Hsien

AU - Schiøler, Karin L

AU - Konradsen, Flemming

N1 - © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - BACKGROUND: Urban Kaohsiung City (KC), in southern Taiwan, has experienced annual dengue epidemics for decades despite considerable vector control efforts. Substantial research has been undertaken to characterize Aedes aegypti breeding habitats, but no systematic assessment has been completed for Aedes albopictus present in KC.METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 2013 to 2015 in a predefined area of KC. Each identified container was characterised by season, location, ownership, function and number of juvenile A. aegypti. Negative binomial hurdle analyses were applied to evaluate the association between the number of juvenile A. albopictus and the characteristics of each identified container.RESULTS: For all containers, high numbers of A. albopictus were significantly predicted by containers identified during the wet season (vs dry), located on government (vs private) property and classified as a discarded item (vs water storage). For outdoor containers, more A. albopictus were significantly predicted by wet season (vs dry) and discarded item (vs container in use).CONCLUSIONS: In order to improve dengue prevention in KC, we propose that vector control efforts be expanded to include A. albopictus through an increased focus during the wet season on discarded containers that are located outdoors and on government property.

AB - BACKGROUND: Urban Kaohsiung City (KC), in southern Taiwan, has experienced annual dengue epidemics for decades despite considerable vector control efforts. Substantial research has been undertaken to characterize Aedes aegypti breeding habitats, but no systematic assessment has been completed for Aedes albopictus present in KC.METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 2013 to 2015 in a predefined area of KC. Each identified container was characterised by season, location, ownership, function and number of juvenile A. aegypti. Negative binomial hurdle analyses were applied to evaluate the association between the number of juvenile A. albopictus and the characteristics of each identified container.RESULTS: For all containers, high numbers of A. albopictus were significantly predicted by containers identified during the wet season (vs dry), located on government (vs private) property and classified as a discarded item (vs water storage). For outdoor containers, more A. albopictus were significantly predicted by wet season (vs dry) and discarded item (vs container in use).CONCLUSIONS: In order to improve dengue prevention in KC, we propose that vector control efforts be expanded to include A. albopictus through an increased focus during the wet season on discarded containers that are located outdoors and on government property.

U2 - 10.1093/trstmh/trz060

DO - 10.1093/trstmh/trz060

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31294804

SN - 0035-9203

VL - 113

SP - 685

EP - 692

JO - Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

JF - Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

IS - 11

ER -