Field studies of some of the basic factors concerned in the transmission of malaria

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Abstract
In a coastal area of Tanganyika, holo-endemic malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum is prevalent. Most attacks are evidenced in children; the adults seeming to show considerable immunity. Anopheles funestus is the predominant mosquito present. Females of A. funestus and A. gambiae both require 2 blood meals before their eggs can be developed, and this takes at least 48-hrs. Adult females require about 13 days after feeding on infective blood before they can become infective. Data indicate that an infant receives an infective bite on anavg. of about once in 100 nights, and that the resulting parasitemia nsrsists to infect more mosquitoes for over 100 days (occasionally up to 200). It is suggested that the best control is through measures designed to shorten the life expectancy of mosquitoes to a point where the parasite cycle cannot be completed in any great number rather than trying to exterminate the insect completely. Insecticides of the type of dieldrin seem to provide such an agent of attack because of its lasting residual effect.