APPROACHES TO VECTOR CONTROL - NEW AND TRUSTED .5. THE EPIDEMIOLOGIC CONTEXT OF VECTOR CONTROL

This paper discusses 2 prominent, contemporary issues in the epidemiol ogical context of insect vector control: (i) the magnitude of the cont rol problem, and (ii) non-linear processes influencing vector control. It concludes that we still cannot reliably measure the scale of some important control problems; e.g., there is considerable uncertainty ab out the basic reproduction number of malaria. The emergence of new con cepts such as strain-specific immunity, and a growing emphasis on dise ase control as distinct from infection control, mean that some quantit ative problems are being redefined more quickly than they are being so lved. Population biologists have urged exploration of density-dependen t processes which may help or hinder new methods of vector control. Th is brief review of non-linear phenomena such as facilitation and limit ation finds little evidence that they will significantly influence, e. g., the introduction of some novel refractory mechanism into a vector population.