Assessing the impact of house screening and ivermectin administration to cattle on residual malaria transmission using entomological indicators in southwest Ethiopia: a cluster randomised control trial
Background: Malaria is a severe disease affecting millions of lives in the world. Despite the comprehensive coverage and scaled-up use of ITNs and IRS, which changed malaria epidemiology, malaria transmission continues. The behavioural variability of the malaria mosquito, human night-time activities exposed to the bite of the malaria mosquito, the effectiveness of ITN and IRS depend on the insecticides, and other reasons maintain the residual malaria transmission in the community. Pushing the mosquitoes outdoors and pulling them to the animals treated with ivermectin could be a complementary intervention to reduce the transmission of indoor and outdoor residual malaria.
Study area, design, and data collection methods: The study will be conducted in 14 Kebeles endemic to malaria located close to the southern Rift Valley Lakes, Abaya, and Chamo in the Arba Minch Zuria and Mirab Abaya districts. A cluster-randomised controlled trial design will be applied in 60 clusters with four arms (15 clusters each). One arm will be intervened by house screening, the second arm with ivermectin cattle treatment, the third arm will receive both house screening and cattle treatment, and the fourth arm will receive bed nets as a control. The human night hours activities, which may expose people to the bite of malaria mosquitoes, will be assessed using direct observation and questionnaires. The malaria mosquito collection will be conducted using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps, pyrethrum spray catches (PSC), pit shelter, and human landing catch (HLC).
Objectives
- To determine whether house screening and ivermectin cattle treatment reduce indoor and outdoor mosquito density
- To assess whether house screening and ivermectin cattle treatment affect the blood meal feeding patterns of mosquitoes
- To assess whether house screening and ivermectin cattle treatment reduce the gametocyte positivity rate in freshly fed mosquitoes
- To assess the human biting patterns of malaria mosquitoes in control and intervention arms
- To assess the human night hours activities and sleeping patterns contributing to residual malaria transmission.
Peer-reviewed publications
Conference presentations
2023 Annual Meeting American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene