Journal of School of Public Health and

Background and Aim: Determination of the age of vector mosquitoes is of particular importance in epidemiological studies of diseases transmitted by them, such as viral and parasitic diseases. The objective of this study was to determine the daily age of Anopheles stephensi based on changes in pteridine concentration in female mosquito cuticles by liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Methods and Materials: Females of Anopheles stephensi were raised in an insectary (28° C, 70% relative humidity). At 1, 5, 10, 15, 25, 30 days post-emergence they were divided into groups of 10 mosquitoes each. The mosquitoes in each age group were further divided into 3 subgroups of 10 each for chromatographic (HPLC, emotion = 355 nm and excitation= 465 nm) pteridine extraction. The chromatograms obtained were compared with the respective standards to determine the types of pteridines.

Results: Four types of pteridines were detected in the cuticle of Anopheles stephensi, including isoxanthopteridine, pteridine-6-carboxylic acid, biopteridine, and xanthopteridine. They were all present in all the cuticle of the mosquitoes however, no biopteridine in the head or xanthopteridine in the thorax were found. Generally, as the age of the mosquitoes increased, pteridine concentrations kept declining, such that after 30 days the total concentration reached 10% of the original.

Conclusion:The findings indicate that there is a negative correlation between the concentration of pteridines in the cuticle and daily age of female mosquitoes. The method described can be used as a standard method to determine the daily age of Anopheles, as well as of other mosquito species, since it is fast and precise and needs small samples. Its major limitation is non-availability of HPLC in many parts of the country, although it is possible to freeze dead mosquitoes and transfer them to centers where HPLC is available.

Background and aim:  Malaria as a mosquito-borne disease is largely dependent on climatic conditions. Temperature, rainfall and relative humidity are considered as climatic factors affecting the geographical distribution of this disease. These climatic factors have definite roles not only in the growth and proliferation of the mosquito Anopheles but also in the parasite Plasmodium activity. The purpose of this study was to find in which regions of Iran climatic conditions favour spread of malaria.

Material and Methods: Data on 3 climatic factors, including the mean monthly temperature, rainfall and mixed ratio of humidity, obtained from 31 synoptic meteorological stations during the 30-year period 1975-2005 were used. By running the informative filters through map algebra tools in the Geographical Information System (GIS), the synoptic meteorological stations were classified into 4 groups in terms of climatic conditions favouring activity and proliferation of the mosquito Anopheles and the parasite Plasmodium. Then the regions were interpolated in terms of climate risk of malaria incidence using the tension Spiline interpolation method.

Results: The maps of climatic potential malaria risk indicated that the southern provinces including Hormozgan, Bushehr and Khuzestan, southern parts of Sistan-Balouchistan province, such as Chabahar and Nikshahr, as well as Northern provinces of the country, including Mazandaran and Gilan, have the highest climatic potential for risk of malaria spread. On the other hand, provinces in the North Western region, including West and East Azarbaijan, Ardebil, Kurdistan and Zanjan, have the lowest climatic potential risk of malaria spread. Further analysis of the data showed that a large segment of the population is living in regions with medium- to high-risk zones.

Conclusion: The findings of this study can be used when designing malaria control programs to identify different regions in terms of climate-based malaria risk. The presented risk map of malaria in this study is completely based on climatic factors. The disconformity between these presented climate-based maps and the observed high-risk map is due to such factors as socioeconomic and lifestyle changes, as well as border problems (foreign subjects entering the country).

  Background and Aim: Malaria remains an important vector-borne disease globally and is a threat for human life. Forty percent of the world’s populations who are living in low-income countries are at risk of malaria. The disease exists in Iran and caused economic and social damages. As result of malaria control program that has been done during the past years, the disease is eliminated from the most parts of the country, so that it is only reporting from a small part in these years.

  Materials and Methods : During this study, all available papers, books and thesises were reviewed and articles from Iranmedex, DIS and PubMed databanks were also used. Furthermore the related reports from different sources were noted.

  The extensive studies have important information about malaria vectors. In this study the data about malaria vectors and related training courses are listed. During this study the related papers, Books and thesises which have been reviewed.

  Although efforts, surveillance system, diagnostic and treatment facilities, as well as knowledge and attitude of peoples regarding to health behavior are improved nowadays, there are significant improvements about decreasing the malaria cases. Risk of the disease exists because of population exchange and asymptomatic cases. The malaria can be studied with both public health and economical aspects. This paper represents entomological studies of malaria during 1935 by the end of 2008.

  Conclusion: our study revealed that, based on recent malaria national program, the authorities should make an emphasis on vector control monitoring, resistance management, malaria evaluation and because of weak supervision on all malaria operation at stage of elimination of malaria, accurate and careful suppersional require to reach the objective and goal of elimination.