WUCHERERIA-BANCROFTI (FILARIIDEA, DIPETALONEMATIDAE) AND ITS VECTOR AEDES-POLYNESIENSIS (DIPTERA, CULICIDAE) IN A FRENCH-POLYNESIAN VILLAGE

In March 1991, a study on Wuchereria bancrofti (Cobbold, 1887) infecti on rates in its vector, Aedes polynesiensis Marks, was carried out in a village of French Polynesia. Our data were collected 10 yr after the suspension of human mass chemoprophylaxis and served as a baseline fo r pending ivermectin treatment scheduled in 1991-1993. In total, 1,789 biting females were collected, of which 1,740 were dissected and 1,18 3 (68%) were parous. Among these, 106 (8.96%) were infected with W. ba ncrofti and 34 (2.87%) harbored infective L3 larvae. The mean number o f larvae per infected mosquito was 2.69, and the mean number of L3 lav ae per L3 positive mosquito was 1.44. The Ae. polynesiensis biting ind ex was 4.7 bites per 15 min, but varied significantly among habitats. The highest parous biting rates occurred in fields and peridomestic ga rdens and the lowest was close to houses. The proportion of parous inf ected and infective mosquitoes was higher in peridomestic habitats (0. 25 infective bites per 15 min) than in domestic habitats (0.09) or in fields (0.11).