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Characterizing microclimate in urban malaria transmission settings: a case study from Chennai, India
BACKGROUND: Environmental temperature is an important driver of malaria transmission dynamics. Both the parasite and vector are sensitive to mean ambient temperatures and daily temperature variation. To understand transmission ecology, therefore, it is important to determine the range of microclimat...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2013
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3599321/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23452620 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-12-84 |
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author | Cator, Lauren J Thomas, Shalu Paaijmans, Krijn P Ravishankaran, Sangamithra Justin, Johnson A Mathai, Manu T Read, Andrew F Thomas, Matthew B Eapen, Alex |
author_facet | Cator, Lauren J Thomas, Shalu Paaijmans, Krijn P Ravishankaran, Sangamithra Justin, Johnson A Mathai, Manu T Read, Andrew F Thomas, Matthew B Eapen, Alex |
author_sort | Cator, Lauren J |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Environmental temperature is an important driver of malaria transmission dynamics. Both the parasite and vector are sensitive to mean ambient temperatures and daily temperature variation. To understand transmission ecology, therefore, it is important to determine the range of microclimatic temperatures experienced by malaria vectors in the field. METHODS: A pilot study was conducted in the Indian city of Chennai to determine the temperature variation in urban microclimates and characterize the thermal ecology of the local transmission setting. Temperatures were measured in a range of probable indoor and outdoor resting habitats of Anopheles stephensi in two urban slum malaria sites. Mean temperatures and daily temperature fluctuations in local transmission sites were compared with standard temperature measures from the local weather station. The biological implications of the different temperatures were explored using temperature-dependent parasite development models to provide estimates of the extrinsic incubation period (EIP) of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum. RESULTS: Mean daily temperatures within the urban transmission sites were generally warmer than those recorded at the local weather station. The main reason was that night-time temperatures were higher (and hence diurnal temperature ranges smaller) in the urban settings. Mean temperatures and temperature variation also differed between specific resting sites within the transmission environments. Most differences were of the order of 1-3°C but were sufficient to lead to important variation in predicted EIPs and hence, variation in estimates of transmission intensity. CONCLUSIONS: Standard estimates of environmental temperature derived from local weather stations do not necessarily provide realistic measures of temperatures within actual transmission environments. Even the small differences in mean temperatures or diurnal temperature ranges reported in this study can lead to large variations in key mosquito and/or parasite life history traits that determine transmission intensity. Greater effort should be directed at quantifying adult mosquito resting behaviour and determining the temperatures actually experienced by mosquitoes and parasites in local transmission environments. In the absence of such highly resolved data, the approach used in the current study provides a framework for improved thermal characterization of transmission settings. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3599321 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2013 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-35993212013-03-25 Characterizing microclimate in urban malaria transmission settings: a case study from Chennai, India Cator, Lauren J Thomas, Shalu Paaijmans, Krijn P Ravishankaran, Sangamithra Justin, Johnson A Mathai, Manu T Read, Andrew F Thomas, Matthew B Eapen, Alex Malar J Research BACKGROUND: Environmental temperature is an important driver of malaria transmission dynamics. Both the parasite and vector are sensitive to mean ambient temperatures and daily temperature variation. To understand transmission ecology, therefore, it is important to determine the range of microclimatic temperatures experienced by malaria vectors in the field. METHODS: A pilot study was conducted in the Indian city of Chennai to determine the temperature variation in urban microclimates and characterize the thermal ecology of the local transmission setting. Temperatures were measured in a range of probable indoor and outdoor resting habitats of Anopheles stephensi in two urban slum malaria sites. Mean temperatures and daily temperature fluctuations in local transmission sites were compared with standard temperature measures from the local weather station. The biological implications of the different temperatures were explored using temperature-dependent parasite development models to provide estimates of the extrinsic incubation period (EIP) of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum. RESULTS: Mean daily temperatures within the urban transmission sites were generally warmer than those recorded at the local weather station. The main reason was that night-time temperatures were higher (and hence diurnal temperature ranges smaller) in the urban settings. Mean temperatures and temperature variation also differed between specific resting sites within the transmission environments. Most differences were of the order of 1-3°C but were sufficient to lead to important variation in predicted EIPs and hence, variation in estimates of transmission intensity. CONCLUSIONS: Standard estimates of environmental temperature derived from local weather stations do not necessarily provide realistic measures of temperatures within actual transmission environments. Even the small differences in mean temperatures or diurnal temperature ranges reported in this study can lead to large variations in key mosquito and/or parasite life history traits that determine transmission intensity. Greater effort should be directed at quantifying adult mosquito resting behaviour and determining the temperatures actually experienced by mosquitoes and parasites in local transmission environments. In the absence of such highly resolved data, the approach used in the current study provides a framework for improved thermal characterization of transmission settings. BioMed Central 2013-03-02 /pmc/articles/PMC3599321/ /pubmed/23452620 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-12-84 Text en Copyright ©2013 Cator et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Research Cator, Lauren J Thomas, Shalu Paaijmans, Krijn P Ravishankaran, Sangamithra Justin, Johnson A Mathai, Manu T Read, Andrew F Thomas, Matthew B Eapen, Alex Characterizing microclimate in urban malaria transmission settings: a case study from Chennai, India |
title | Characterizing microclimate in urban malaria transmission settings: a case study from Chennai, India |
title_full | Characterizing microclimate in urban malaria transmission settings: a case study from Chennai, India |
title_fullStr | Characterizing microclimate in urban malaria transmission settings: a case study from Chennai, India |
title_full_unstemmed | Characterizing microclimate in urban malaria transmission settings: a case study from Chennai, India |
title_short | Characterizing microclimate in urban malaria transmission settings: a case study from Chennai, India |
title_sort | characterizing microclimate in urban malaria transmission settings: a case study from chennai, india |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3599321/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23452620 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-12-84 |
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