ANTHROPOPHILIC MOSQUITO SPECIES PREVALENCE IN NIBO COMMUNITY, AWKA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ANAMBRA STATE, SOUTHEASTERN NIGERIA.

Abstract

The prevalent man-biting mosquitoes in Nibo community were studied between May and September 2014. Mosquito larvae were sampled from gutters, discarded tins, plastic containers and ground water pools using ladles, bowls and sieves. Indoor-biting and resting adult mosquitoes were collected using pyrethrum Knock down Collection Method (PKC). Outdoor biting and resting adult mosquitoes were collected using Human Bait Collection (HBC). A total of 1,150 mosquitoes made up of 1022(88.87%) larvae, 70(6.08%) indoor biting adult mosquitoes and 58(5.67%) outdoor biting adult mosquitoes were collected in the study. Five mosquito species including Anopheles gambiae, Culex quinquefasciatus, Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus and Ae. Africanus were collected from the study. An. gambiae was the predominating species among the indoor biting mosquitoes. Aedes aegypti was the most abundant species in both larval and outdoor biting adult mosquito collections. The five mosquito species collected were proven vectors of public health diseases and therefore an indication of the people’s exposure to various mosquito bites and subsequent disease transmission. Health education to improve the environmental sanitation to reduce mosquito breeding habitat and improve the people’s health was suggested.