SURVIVAL AND INFECTION PROBABILITIES OF ANTHROPOPHAGIC ANOPHELINES FROM AN AREA OF HIGH PREVALENCE OF PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM IN HUMANS

Delayed and immediate oocyst rates; parous rates and sporozoite rates were obtained in Anopheles gambiae Giles, A. arabiensis Fatten and A. funestus Giles from two villages in the Kilombero Valley, southern Tan zania during the wet season of 1991. Collection methods included light trap, indoor resting collection and nets with holes cut in their side . Mosquito survival estimates from parous rates obtained from light tr ap collections, were compared with estimates from capture-recapture ex periments and from that obtained during a population decline. Methods of estimating the proportion of feeds infectious to mosquitoes, K, wer e also compared. This proportion varied between villages and species a nd was highest in the village with the greatest proportion of A. gambi ae. We propose that absolute estimates of K should be obtained by dete rmining the immediate oocyst rate and measuring the parous rate using the same host seeking mosquitoes. This estimate was only available fro m one village and ranged from 1.9% for A. gambiae s.l. to 3.4% for A. funestus.