Mosquito species geographical distribution in Iraq 2009

Background & objectives: Mosquitoes transmit diseases to >700 million people annually. Malaria kills threemillion persons every year, including one child every 30 sec. Worldwide there are >3000 mosquito species.In Iraq, 37 species have been identified in different surveys over sev...

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Main Author: Haidar A. Hantosh, Hameeda M. Hassan, Bushra Ahma & Ali Al-fatlawy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2012-03-01
Series:Journal of Vector Borne Diseases
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mrcindia.org/journal/issues/491033.pdf
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author Haidar A. Hantosh, Hameeda M. Hassan, Bushra Ahma & Ali Al-fatlawy
author_facet Haidar A. Hantosh, Hameeda M. Hassan, Bushra Ahma & Ali Al-fatlawy
author_sort Haidar A. Hantosh, Hameeda M. Hassan, Bushra Ahma & Ali Al-fatlawy
collection DOAJ
description Background & objectives: Mosquitoes transmit diseases to >700 million people annually. Malaria kills threemillion persons every year, including one child every 30 sec. Worldwide there are >3000 mosquito species.In Iraq, 37 species have been identified in different surveys over several decades. We conducted an entomologicalsurvey to determine the mosquito species and their distribution in Iraq in 2009.Methods: Between January 20 and December 31, 2009, mosquitoes in houses in 12 Iraqi provinces werecollected and speciated. Five to 10 villages were selected randomly in each province and in each village 10houses were selected randomly to collect mosquitoes and the density of mosquitoes per room was calculated.Kits for entomological investigation were used and the collected mosquitoes were sent to the vector bornedisease section laboratory for classification using the Naval Medical Research Unit 3 standard classificationkey.Results: A total of 29,156 mosquitoes were collected, representing two genera: Anopheles (n=13,268, or 46%of the total collected) and Culex (n=15,888, or 54% of the total collected). Four Anopheles (An. pulcherrimus,An. stephensi, An. superpictus, and An. sacharovi) and one Culex (Cx. pipiens) species were identified. Anophelespulcherrimus was found in 11 provinces, An. stephensi in 7, An. superpictus in 2 and An. sacharovi in oneprovince, while Cx. pipiens was found in all the 12 provinces. Two peaks of mosquito density were found: thefirst from April–June and the other from September–October.Interpretation & conclusion: There are clear differences in Anopheles mosquito species geographical distributionand density among Iraqi provinces, while Cx. pipiens mosquitoes are distributed all over Iraq. All mosquitogenera show clear seasonal density variation. The study highlights that the manual mosquito classification isnot enough to identify all the species of mosquitoes in Iraq
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spelling doaj.art-fce0425348854923ac01f92551952f322022-12-22T03:12:50ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsJournal of Vector Borne Diseases0972-90622012-03-014913335Mosquito species geographical distribution in Iraq 2009Haidar A. Hantosh, Hameeda M. Hassan, Bushra Ahma & Ali Al-fatlawyBackground & objectives: Mosquitoes transmit diseases to >700 million people annually. Malaria kills threemillion persons every year, including one child every 30 sec. Worldwide there are >3000 mosquito species.In Iraq, 37 species have been identified in different surveys over several decades. We conducted an entomologicalsurvey to determine the mosquito species and their distribution in Iraq in 2009.Methods: Between January 20 and December 31, 2009, mosquitoes in houses in 12 Iraqi provinces werecollected and speciated. Five to 10 villages were selected randomly in each province and in each village 10houses were selected randomly to collect mosquitoes and the density of mosquitoes per room was calculated.Kits for entomological investigation were used and the collected mosquitoes were sent to the vector bornedisease section laboratory for classification using the Naval Medical Research Unit 3 standard classificationkey.Results: A total of 29,156 mosquitoes were collected, representing two genera: Anopheles (n=13,268, or 46%of the total collected) and Culex (n=15,888, or 54% of the total collected). Four Anopheles (An. pulcherrimus,An. stephensi, An. superpictus, and An. sacharovi) and one Culex (Cx. pipiens) species were identified. Anophelespulcherrimus was found in 11 provinces, An. stephensi in 7, An. superpictus in 2 and An. sacharovi in oneprovince, while Cx. pipiens was found in all the 12 provinces. Two peaks of mosquito density were found: thefirst from April–June and the other from September–October.Interpretation & conclusion: There are clear differences in Anopheles mosquito species geographical distributionand density among Iraqi provinces, while Cx. pipiens mosquitoes are distributed all over Iraq. All mosquitogenera show clear seasonal density variation. The study highlights that the manual mosquito classification isnot enough to identify all the species of mosquitoes in Iraqhttp://www.mrcindia.org/journal/issues/491033.pdfAnophelesCulexIraqmosquito species
spellingShingle Haidar A. Hantosh, Hameeda M. Hassan, Bushra Ahma & Ali Al-fatlawy
Mosquito species geographical distribution in Iraq 2009
Journal of Vector Borne Diseases
Anopheles
Culex
Iraq
mosquito species
title Mosquito species geographical distribution in Iraq 2009
title_full Mosquito species geographical distribution in Iraq 2009
title_fullStr Mosquito species geographical distribution in Iraq 2009
title_full_unstemmed Mosquito species geographical distribution in Iraq 2009
title_short Mosquito species geographical distribution in Iraq 2009
title_sort mosquito species geographical distribution in iraq 2009
topic Anopheles
Culex
Iraq
mosquito species
url http://www.mrcindia.org/journal/issues/491033.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT haidarahantoshhameedamhassanbushraahmaalialfatlawy mosquitospeciesgeographicaldistributioniniraq2009