Ecological, Social, and Other Environmental Determinants of Dengue Vector Abundance in Urban and Rural Areas of Northeastern Thailand

Md. Siddikur Rahman, Tipaya Ekalaksananan, Sumaira Zafar, Petchaboon Poolphol, Oleg Shipin, Ubydul Haque, Richard Paul, Joacim Rocklöv, Chamsai Pientong and Hans J. Overgaard
Additional contact information
Md. Siddikur Rahman: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Tipaya Ekalaksananan: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Sumaira Zafar: Environmental Engineering and Management Program, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Petchaboon Poolphol: Office of Disease Prevention and Control 10, Ubon Ratchathani 35000, Thailand
Oleg Shipin: Environmental Engineering and Management Program, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Ubydul Haque: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, North Texas, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA
Richard Paul: Unité de la Génétique Fonctionnelle des Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur, CNRS UMR 2000, 75015 Paris, France
Joacim Rocklöv: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Chamsai Pientong: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Hans J. Overgaard: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-23

Abstract: Aedes aegypti is the main vector of dengue globally. The variables that influence the abundance of dengue vectors are numerous and complex. This has generated a need to focus on areas at risk of disease transmission, the spatial-temporal distribution of vectors, and the factors that modulate vector abundance. To help guide and improve vector-control efforts, this study identified the ecological, social, and other environmental risk factors that affect the abundance of adult female and immature Ae. aegypti in households in urban and rural areas of northeastern Thailand. A one-year entomological study was conducted in four villages of northeastern Thailand between January and December 2019. Socio-demographic; self-reported prior dengue infections; housing conditions; durable asset ownership; water management; characteristics of water containers; knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding climate change and dengue; and climate data were collected. Household crowding index (HCI), premise condition index (PCI), socio-economic status (SES), and entomological indices (HI, CI, BI, and PI) were calculated. Negative binomial generalized linear models (GLMs) were fitted to identify the risk factors associated with the abundance of adult females and immature Ae. aegypti . Urban sites had higher entomological indices and numbers of adult Ae. aegypti mosquitoes than rural sites. Overall, participants’ KAP about climate change and dengue were low in both settings. The fitted GLM showed that a higher abundance of adult female Ae. aegypti was significantly ( p < 0.05) associated with many factors, such as a low education level of household respondents, crowded households, poor premise conditions, surrounding house density, bathrooms located indoors, unscreened windows, high numbers of wet containers, a lack of adult control, prior dengue infections, poor climate change adaptation, dengue, and vector-related practices. Many of the above were also significantly associated with a high abundance of immature mosquito stages. The GLM model also showed that maximum and mean temperature with four-and one-to-two weeks of lag were significant predictors ( p < 0.05) of the abundance of adult and immature mosquitoes, respectively, in northeastern Thailand. The low KAP regarding climate change and dengue highlights the engagement needs for vector-borne disease prevention in this region. The identified risk factors are important for the critical first step toward developing routine Aedes surveillance and reliable early warning systems for effective dengue and other mosquito-borne disease prevention and control strategies at the household and community levels in this region and similar settings elsewhere.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti; vector control; climate change; dengue; knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP); entomological indices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5971/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5971/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5971-:d:567612

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().