Evaluating local vegetation cover as a risk factor for malaria transmission: a new analytical approach using ImageJ.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In places where malaria transmission is unstable or is transmitted under hypoendemic conditions, there are periods where limited foci of cases still occur and people become infected. These residual "hot spots" are likely reservoirs of the parasite population and so are fundamental to the seasonal spread and decline of malaria. It is, therefore, important to understand the ecological conditions that permit vector mosquitoes to survive and forage in these specific areas. Features such as local waterways and vegetation, as well as local ecology, particularly nocturnal temperature, humidity, and vegetative sustainability, are important for modeling local mosquito behavior. Vegetation around a homestead likely provides refuge for outdoor resting of these insects and may be a

SUBMITTER: Ricotta EE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4007634 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature