Assessment of Mosquito Diversity and <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> in Female <i>Anopheles</i> Mosquito in Students’ Hostels, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State Nigeria

Abstract

Mosquitoes are considered as the most important insect vectors of many infectious disease agents, whose presence pose a serious public health concern within localities where they are found especially in tertiary institution. The study was conducted to identify mosquito species and Plasmodium falciparum in female Anopheles mosquito in students’ hostels of Ahmadu Bello University. Mosquitoes were caught once in a week for five months June to October (2018), by the used of test tube, chloroform and cotton wool. A total of 1341 mosquito vectors was identified, comprising four (4) species: Anopheles gambiae complex, Anopheles funestus, Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti. The mosquitoes were dissected transversely between the first and third pairs of legs under the dissecting microscope The entire samples were air dried, fixed in methanol and were stained using Giemsa and thin blood film examined under the light microscope for identification of Plasmodium falciparum. The result in this study showed that Culex quinquefasciatus constitutes the most abundant with 950 (59%) followed by Anopheles gambiae 370, (22%), and An. funestus 15(0.9%) while Aedes aegypti 3(0.1%) had the least. Of the two species of anophelene mosquitoes encountered in this study only Anopheles gambiae was positive for Plasmodim falciparum. The result simply showed that efforts to control malaria especially in Zaria area should be a combination of existing methods which is usually referred to as integrated control.

Keywords: Mosquito, Plasmodium falciparum, Anopheles, Hostels