EVALUATION OF LIGHT TRAPS FOR SAMPLING ANOPHELINE MOSQUITOS IN KILIFI, KENYA

Anopheline mosquitoes were sampled inside houses, where residents slep t under untreated bednets, by CDC light traps and human-biting catches to evaluate light traps as a means for determining human exposure to malaria vectors in Kilifi District, Kenya. Mosquitoes were sampled dur ing 2 all-night collections by light traps and one all-night biting ca tch in a series of 262 houses. Collections yielded 1,721 Anopheles gam biae s.l. and 46 An. funestus, and 60.3% of the houses were negative f or anophelines. There was a significant correlation in numbers of An. gambiae s.l. captured by light traps and human-biting collections (r = 0.64), but light traps were biased and underestimated An. gambiae s.l . abundance. This bias increased with increasing mosquito abundance. I n addition, the proportion of An. gambiae s.l. infected by Plasmodium falciparum was 2.3-fold higher in light traps than in human-biting col lections. Along the coastal zone of Kenya where vector abundance is lo w, light traps do not provide an adequate estimate of man-vector conta ct when such information is required at the household level in epidemi ological studies of malaria parasite transmission.