Altitude and the risk of bites from mosquitoes infected with malaria and filariasis among the Mianmin people of Papua New Guinea
id: 2387
type:
Article
title: Altitude and the risk of bites from mosquitoes infected with malaria and filariasis among the Mianmin people of Papua New Guinea
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key: zc77t177c.pdf
size: 249974
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file_id: 0e80090d-0ed1-40fc-9a94-cfc6e36f9a5b
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version_id: a696b3fc-76d7-4b8f-b203-ccc6e120df86
rights: All rights reserved
creators:
name: Attenborough, R. D.
role: Creator
name: Burkot, T. R.
role: Creator
name: Gardner, D. S.
role: Creator
keywords:
Altitude
Animals
Anopheles/classification/ parasitology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Ethnic Groups
Humans
Papua New Guinea/ethnology
Plasmodium falciparum/isolation & purification
Plasmodium vivax/isolation & purification
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Topography, Medical
Wuchereria bancrofti/isolation & purification
Filariasis
language:
eng
description: The Mianmin are a mobile population occupying a remote lower montane area at 100-1200 m altitude in the north-western interior of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Major medical problems include malaria and bancroftian filariasis. An entomological survey conducted along an altitudinal transect from 170 to 1000m identified Anopheles koliensis as the predominant malaria vector below 650 m, with A. punctulatus dominating at the higher elevations. Proportions of mosquitoes with malaria circumsporozoite antigens diminished with increasing altitude, as did the proportion of mosquitoes infected with stage 3 larvae of Wuchereria bancrofti. These patterns are consistent with increases in the length of the extrinsic incubation period associated with the lower temperatures found at higher altitudes. Inoculation rates varied less regularly with altitude, owing to local variation in biting rates, but were sufficient even at the higher elevations to maintain a high parasite prevalence in the human population. Results support recent suggestions that the 'population-sink' model of the PNG highland fringes needs additionally to consider local variation due to non-altitude-related ecological factors.