Transmission dynamics and estimates of malaria vectorial capacity for Anopheles balabacensis and An. flavirostris (Diptera: Culicidae) on Banggi island, Sabah, Malaysia.

Holoendemic malaria tranmission in two small isolated forest communities and a coastal village was studied by (1) all night human bait collections of Anopheles species from inside and outside houses and (2) buffalo-biting and CDC light-trapping catches during March and November 1984. During the same period thick and thin blood films were collected from the human population, and spleen rates were determined in children from two to nine years of age. Using both the immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) and the dissection technique, more sporozoite-positive infections were detected in An. balabacensis and An.flavirostris in November than in March. IRMA confirmed the presence of Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites. An average of 76·2% of the An. balabacensis population lived long enough to have reached a point where infectivity with P. falciparum was possible in November. Although fewer than five adult females bit humans per night at any time, a resident could theoretically have received more than 160 infective bites ...