Effectiveness of Transfluthrin-impregnated Insecticide (Paper Rambo) and Mechanical Screening Against Culicine and Anopheline Mosquito Vectors in Kumbotso, Kano, Nigeria

The level of personal protection acquired from the use of mechanical screening of windows and doors alone or the screening in compliment with burning transfluthrin- impregnated paper was assessed. The specific objectives were to compare the indoor resting densities, and man biting rates of the Culicine and Anopheline mosquitoes, with and without the interventions. Pyrethrum spray collection (PSC) technique was used to collect mosquitoes from 30 randomly selected houses, 10 each from the two interventions and control areas, monthly, between May, 2010 to April 2011. The Culicine and Anopheline species were sorted morphologically and An . gambiae s.l  were identified to sibling species by PCR. A total of 1592 Cx. quinquefasciatus  were collected from the houses, out of which 57.2%, 27.6%, and 15.2% were from the control, screened only and the screened houses in which transfluthrin-impregnated papers were used, respectively. Statistically higher number of Anopheline mosquitoes, 363 were collected from the control houses compared to 49 from the screened and 40 from the screened-transfluthrin treated houses, X 2 (2,N=452)=68.66 p0.05. The indoor resting density was 33.6 in the control compared to 2.7 in the screened and 3.0 in the screened-transfluthrin treated houses while the number of female Anopheline per person was 6.7, 1.3 and 1.0 respectively.  An.gambiae ss , and An. arabiensis  were identified by PCR. Mechanical screening compares favorably with conventional use of treated impregnated fabrics for personal protection against mosquitoes.