Article
Epidemic and Endemic Malaria Transmission Related to Fish Farming Ponds in the Amazon Frontier
Registro en:
REIS, Izabel Cristina dos et al. Epidemic and Endemic Malaria Transmission Related to Fish Farming Ponds in the Amazon Frontier. Plos One, v. 10, n. 9, p. 1-15, Sept. 2015.
1932-6203
10.1371/journal.pone.0137521
Autor
Reis, Izabel Cristina dos
Honório, Nildimar Alves
Barros, Fábio Saito Monteiro de
Barcellos, Christovam de Castro
Kitron, Uriel
Camara, Daniel Cardoso Portela
Pereira, Glaucio Rocha
Keppeler, Erlei Cassiano
Nunes, Mônica da Silva
Codeço, Cláudia Torres
Resumen
Fish farming in the Amazon has been stimulated as a solution to increase economic development.
However, poorly managed fish ponds have been sometimes associated with the
presence of Anopheles spp. and consequently, with malaria transmission. In this study, we
analyzed the spatial and temporal dynamics of malaria in the state of Acre (and more
closely within a single county) to investigate the potential links between aquaculture and
malaria transmission in this region. At the state level, we classified the 22 counties into
three malaria endemicity patterns, based on the correlation between notification time series.
Furthermore, the study period (2003–2013) was divided into two phases (epidemic and
post-epidemic). Higher fish pond construction coincided both spatially and temporally with
increased rate of malaria notification. Within one malaria endemic county, we investigated
the relationship between the geolocation of malaria cases (2011–2012) and their distance
to fish ponds. Entomological surveys carried out in these ponds provided measurements of
anopheline abundance that were significantly associated with the abundance of malaria
cases within 100 m of the ponds (P < 0.005; r = 0.39). These results taken together suggest
that fish farming contributes to the maintenance of high transmission levels of malaria in this
region.