Imperviousness as a predictor for infestation levels of container-breeding mosquitoes in a focus of dengue and Saint Louis encephalitis in Argentina

RUBIO A.; CARDO M.V.; CARBAJO A.; VEZZANI D.

ACTA TROPICA

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 128 p. 680 - 685

0001-706X

Dengue and Saint Louis encephalitis virus are among the most important emerging viruses transmitted bymosquitoes at the global scale, and from 2009 onward both diseases have reached temperate Argentina.To test whether the urbanization level can be used as a predictor for the infestation levels of container-breeding mosquito vectors, we searched for Aedes aegypti and Culex pipiens in 8400 water-filled containersfrom 14 cemeteries of Buenos Aires Province and we used generalized linear models to relate positivecontainers with the impervious area quantified inside (internal PIA) and outside (external PIA) cemeteries.The best model for Ae. aegypti explained 91% of the variability and included the season, the internal PIA andthe external PIA at 1 km as a quadratic function, showing a parabolic response peaking in ¡­75%. Regardingthe infestation levels of Cx. pipiens, the final model explained 75% of the variability and included only theseason. In view of these results, the percentage of impervious area efficiently predicted the infestationlevels of Ae. aegypti but not of Cx. pipiens. Considering the worldwide relevance of the former in denguetransmission, the simple quantification of imperviousness proposed herein provides a helpful basis forvector surveillance and control in urbanized areas.