Entomological assessment of yellow fever-epidemic risk indices in Benue State, Nigeria, 2010–2011

Abstract Yellow fever (YF) is a vector-borne disease affecting humans and non-human primates in tropical areas. In the past, there have been pockets of YF outbreaks in Nigeria that resulted in preventable deaths. Surveillance efforts towards avoiding another outbreak have been put in place with the aim of early detection and control. However, risk indices relating to the density of immature YF-mosquito vectors are given little consideration even though it is the first step in curbing a possible outbreak. Immature collections from 1538 houses in Ega, Oju, Otukpoicho and Otukpo in Benue State were carried out in 2010 and 2011. Risk indices such as house index (HI), container index (CI) and Breteau index (BI) were estimated. Molecular detection of YF was carried out on randomly selected Aedes larvae and pupae. Overall, 431,381 mosquitoes were collected in and around house premises. Thirteen species were identified: Ae. aegypti (Linneaus), Ae. africanus (Theobald), Ae. albopictus (Skuse), Ae. cumminsii (Theobald), Ae. luteocephalus (Newstead), Ae. simpsoni s.l. (Theobald) , Ae. vittatus (Bigot), Anopheles gambiae Giles, An. nili (Theobald), Cx. nebulosus Theobald, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, Lutzia tigripes (Grandpre and Charmoy) and Toxorhynchites brevipalpis Theobald. The HI, CI and BI for Ae. aegypti were high in all the study locations, but low for Ae. lueteocephalus except in Ega. With 50 immature Aedes mosquitoes screened across locations, only Ae. aegypti from Ega were positive for YF. This study places Ega on a high alert of an impending YF outbreak. Thus, urgent steps to clear this area of potential mosquito sites are highly recommended.