Diversity of Aedes aegypti breeding sites in neighborhood of the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires

DE MAJO MARIA S.; LOETTI VERONICA; GARZÓN MAXIMILIANO J.; DI BATTISTA CRISTIAN; MONTINI PEDRO; OLIVARES MARIELA

La Plata

Congreso; II Congress of the Latin American Society for Vector Ecology; 2022

Universidad de la Plata

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is associated with the domesticenvironment, since it uses artificial containers with water locatedinside houses as breeding sites. This is an important species forpublic health because it is the main vector of several viruses suchas dengue. In 2020, in was registered the largest epidemic ofdengue in Argentina with more than 12,400 confirmed cases inthe Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (MABA). Although, housesconstitute most of the urban space coverage, there are practicallyno studies exploring the diversity and importance of mosquitobreeding sites in this environment. Several studies haveemphasized the need for an intersectoral approach to denguecontrol that combines environmental management practices withcommunity participation. The aim of this work was to study thediversity of containers that can function as larval habitats of Ae.aegypti in relation to different physical aspects andsocioecological characteristics of the inhabitants of the MarianoMoreno neighborhood, in the town of Claypole, in MABA. Asampling of the containers with water was carried out in thehouses during the months of February and March, workingtogether with the neighborhood referents. For each container, thepresence of Ae. aegypti larvae and/or pupae, type of containerand material were recorded. In addition, in each house sampled,a survey was carried out to find out if its inhabitants identified themosquito breeding sites, and knew the prevention and controlmeasures. The results showed that 60 of the 100 houses visitedhad mosquito breeding sites. A total of 334 containers wereanalyzed, and Ae. aegypti larvae or pupae were found in 132(39.5%). The most common water containers were buckets,representing (22.8%) of the total containers (76/334). The mainbreeding sites were tires (95%) and the most frequent wereplastic containers (39.4%). Of the 34 people who were aware ofnot accumulating water containers or invert them as a preventivemeasure against dengue, (53%) had breeding sites in theirhouses. The main results show that a large proportion of thehouses had breeding sites and, in general, the inhabitants of thehouses were aware of the main preventive measures. Inconclusion, the practices of preventive measures, although theyare known by people, are not successfully incorporated into dailylife. The challenge is develop proposals of environmentalmanagement practices to reduce breeding sites with communityparticipation.