The biology and control of malaria vectors in India

摘要

Despite considerable success of malaria control programme in the past, malaria still continues as a major public health problem. The malaria control in India relies mainly on indoor residual spraying of insecticides, which has become a formidable task due to widespread resistance in malaria vectors, particularly in Anopheles culicifacies, responsible for a majority of malaria cases in India. The success of any vector control programme relies on knowledge of vector species and their bionomics, which is complicated due to the fact that among the six recognized primary malaria vectors in India, all except An. stephensi are species complexes. There are growing evidences that the members of species complexes differ significantly in biological characteristics that are vital for malaria control point of view such as vectorial potential, host-preference, resting behaviour and response to insecticides. Culicifacies and Fluviatilis complexes are the most studied vector systems from India, which together are responsible for a majority of malaria cases. Vector control has become less effective in recent years due to poor adoption of alternative tools. This review article illustrates an update on recent advances in the field of vector biology, particularly recognition of sibling species, methods for their identification, differential bionomics of members of species complexes and vector control options currently available.