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A malária országon belüli elterjedtségével az 1930-as évektől kezdtek el foglalkozni Magyarországon. A betegség endémiás előfordulása különösen a délnyugati és az északkeleti területeket érintette. Emiatt több maláriaállomást hoztak létre, a második világháború évei alatt Kárpátalján két ilyen állomás működött Ungvár és Beregszász városokban. A feladatuk a kutatásra, a gyógyításra, a tanácsadásra, a védekezésre és a kísérleti munkára terjedt ki. A beregszászi állomás 1939-ben kezdte meg a tevékenységét, melynek során helyi sikereket értek el a szúnyoghálózás, a szúnyog tenyészőhelyek megszűntetése és a betegek gyógykezelése terén.

In the late 1920s, Guatemala embarked on environmental drainage projects aimed at eradicating mosquito breeding grounds. Designed to improve people’s lives, these efforts sometimes inadvert...

Investigations on knowledge, attitude and practices of the human activities related to the breeding of mosquito vectors in Ikeduru L.G.A, Imo State, Nigeria were carried out. Descriptive survey method was used for the study. The towns were sampled using simple random sampling technique. Questionnaire and interviews were used to generate data. The binomial logistic regression method was applied in testing relationships between parameters. The findings revealed that increasing age was associated with an increased likelihood of having both knowledge and positive attitude associated with human activities on mosquito species. Results further indicated that increase in age was associated with decreased likelihood of participants practicing human activities that contribute to breeding of mosquito species. Findings also revealed that males were 7.026 times more likely to have knowledge associated with human activities on mosquito breeding than their female counterparts. Females were more likely to exhibit positive attitude associated with human activities on mosquito species than male counterpart. Males were more likely to practice the human activities that contribute to breeding of mosquito than females. It was recommended that indiscriminate dumping of refuse should be discouraged. Educating the masses on the activities that favor rapid breeding of mosquitoes in the area should be encouraged. Planting of mosquito repellant herbs near human habitation should be encouraged. Vulcanizers should be enlightened on the dangers of storing water in unused tires. Cassava and Maize Processors should disinfect their environment at least once in two weeks.

Background Dengue fever (DF) is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that has threatened tropical and subtropical regions in recent decades. An early and targeted warning of a dengue epidemic is important for vector control. Current studies have primarily determined weather conditions to be the main factor for dengue forecasting, thereby neglecting that environmental suitability for mosquito breeding is also an important factor, especially in fine-grained intra-urban settings. Considering that street-view images are promising for depicting physical environments, this study proposes a framework for facilitating fine-grained intra-urban dengue forecasting by integrating the urban environments measured from street-view images. Methods The dengue epidemic that occurred in 167 townships of Guangzhou City, China, between 2015 and 2019 was taken as a study case. First, feature vectors of street-view images acquired inside each township were extracted by a pre-trained convolutional neural network, and then aggregated as an environmental feature vector of the township. Thus, townships with similar physical settings would exhibit similar environmental features. Second, the environmental feature vector is combined with commonly used features (e.g., temperature, rainfall, and past case count) as inputs to machine-learning models for weekly dengue forecasting. Results The performance of machine-learning forecasting models (i.e., MLP and SVM) integrated with and without environmental features were compared. This indicates that models integrating environmental features can identify high-risk urban units across the city more precisely than those using common features alone. In addition, the top 30% of high-risk townships predicted by our proposed methods can capture approximately 50–60% of dengue cases across the city. Conclusions Incorporating local environments measured from street view images is effective in facilitating fine-grained intra-urban dengue forecasting, which is beneficial for conducting spatially precise dengue prevention and control.

Background India is endemic for dengue. The present formative study reports awareness and practices of people regarding dengue and its prevention, personal protection behaviours and peoples’ exposure to dengue-related health promotion activities. Methods This is a cross-sectional study of 1194 households randomly selected from 20 slum clusters in Delhi. Data were collected from an adult member of the household through an interviewer-administered, pre-tested questionnaire. An observation checklist was used to identify potential breeding sources. Results People were aware that dengue is transmitted through mosquitoes and sources of breeding (clean, stagnant water -60.1%, domestic water containers -18.7%, coolers -15.0%). Each house had at least one potential source of mosquito breeding. Using mosquito repellents (83.3%) was the most common personal protection behaviour. Peoples’ participation is limited in the mosquito prevention and health promotion activities carried out by the local municipality. Still, participation resulted in positive behavioural change. Conclusions While people were aware of dengue transmission, preventive measures against mosquito breeding were not satisfactory. People could not relate their existing knowledge on dengue to their household surroundings, and their awareness had not been translated to behavioural change. Community participation is limited, but is significant in the prevention and control of dengue.

Desde que dio inicio el nuevo siglo, varios estudios sobre la culicidofauna de la Hispaniola han elevado el conocimiento de este grupo de artrópodos, muy relevantes desde el punto de vista médico y veterinario. En relación a la diversidad de la familia Culicidae, los hallazgos más recientes se han realizado en el municipio de Jarabacoa, República Dominicana. Con el objetivo de profundizar en la diversidad de los culícidos presentes en esta localidad montañosa de El Cibao, se procedió a la búsqueda de criaderos de mosquitos, sobre todo de origen natural, desde enero de 2018 hasta junio de 2019. La identificación de los especímenes se realizó mediante la utilización de lupa binocular y microscopio, con la ayuda de claves taxonómicas. Se reportan seis nuevas especies para Jarabacoa, sumando un total de 22 para el municipio, sobre las cuales se analizan cuestiones como su bioecología y su papel en la transmisión de agentes patógenos, entre otras. Destaca la presencia de Culex interrogator Dyar y Knab, 1906, especie que se reporta por primera vez en la Hispaniola, y por segunda en el Caribe insular. A pesar de que este culícido no está implicado hasta la fecha en la transmisión de patógenos al ser humano, otras especies encontradas en este estudio como Anopheles crucians Wiedemann, 1828, Aedes scapularis (Rondani, 1848) y Psorophora confinnis (Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891) deben ser tenidas en cuenta en los programas de vigilancia y control, a tenor de su relevancia médica.

Incidence rate Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) in Bali Province ranks first in Indonesia in 2011-2015. DHF is caused by dengue virus transmitted by Aedes spp. The risk of DBD transmission is measured by density figure. This research was conducted in Jembrana, Karangasem and Badung Districts of Bali in 2017 with the aim to know the entomology’s index in those districts. Larvae of Aedes spp. collected from 100 homes in each location in the area. The results of mosquito larvae were calculated by indicator of larvae index of House Index (HI), Container Index (CI) and Breateu Index (BI). The result of HI in Jembrana, Karangasem and Badung’s districts are 19%, 27% and 45%. The result of CI in Jembrana, Karangasem and Badung’s districts are 9,25%; 17,37% and 24,41%. The result of BI in Jembrana, Karangasem and Badung’s districts are 25%, 41% dan 62%. The types of mosquito breeding places in Jembrana and Karangasem are mostly found in buckets, while in Badung regency were found in bathtube. The potential for DHF transmission is still ongoing in these three kabupates. The efforts of larvasidation, eradication of mosquito nests and extension should be done by these three districts.

Hamaidia K, Soltani N. 2021. Short communication: New report of Aedes albopictus in Souk Ahras, Northeast Algeria. Biodiversitas 22: 2901-2906. The present paper reports the occurrence of Aedes albopictus (Skuse), an aggressive Asian tiger mosquito in the city of Souk-Ahras (Northeast of Algeria). A “26 April” estate’ inhabitants (Souk-Ahras province) have reported unusual daytime bites by a striped mosquito. On early September 2020, an intensive field inspection was carried out for potential mosquito breeding sites in the locations around the city. A total of 105 specimens (8 larvae, 24 pupae and 73 adults) of Ae. albopictus were collected in a pile of old tyres in a residential garden. After previous records of this species in Algeria, this is the first evidence of its presence in Souk-Ahras province, and the findings enhance combined public participation with professional validation in surveillance of vector borne-diseases programs with emphasis on the need for sensitising citizens about controlling this important vector.

Little is known regarding the comparative source–sink relationships between primary mosquito breeding sites (source) and neighboring (sink) environments in heterogeneous landscapes. An exploration of those relationships may provide unique insights into the utility of open-space buffer zone mitigation strategies currently being considered by urban planners to reduce contact between mosquitoes and humans. We investigated the source–sink relationships between a highly productive mosquito habitat and adjacent residential (developed) and rural (undeveloped) coastal environments. Our results suggest that source–sink relationships are unaffected by environment. This conclusion is supported by the high level of synchronicity in daily saltmarsh mosquito abundance observed among all surveyed environments (β = 0.67–0.79, P < 0.001). This synchronicity occurred despite the uniqueness of each surveyed environment and the considerable distances of open water and land (2.2–2.6 km) between them. Trap catches, which we interpret as expected mosquito biting nuisance, were high in both residential and rural coastal landscapes (309.4 ± 52.84 and 405.3 ± 62.41 mosquitoes/day, respectively). These observations suggest that existing and planned open-space buffer zones will do little to reduce the biting burden caused by highly vagile saltmarsh mosquitoes. This strengthens the need for empirically informed planning guidelines that alert urban planners to the real risks of human residential encroachment on land that is close to highly vagile mosquito habitat.

West Nile Virus (WNV) is now endemic in many European countries, causing hundreds of human cases every year, with a high spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Previous studies have suggested that spring temperature might play a key role at shaping WNV transmission. Specifically, warmer temperatures in April-May might amplify WNV circulation, thus increasing the risk for human transmission later in the year. To test this hypothesis, we collated publicly available data on the number of human infections recorded in Europe between 2011 and 2019. We then applied generalized linear models to quantify the relationship between human cases and spring temperature, considering both average conditions (over years 2003-2010) and deviations from the average for subsequent years (2011-2019). We found a significant positive association both spatial (average conditions) and temporal (deviations). The former indicates that WNV circulation is higher in usually warmer regions while the latter implies a predictive value of spring conditions over the coming season. We also found a positive association with WNV detection during the previous year, which can be interpreted as an indication of the reliability of the surveillance system but also of WNV overwintering capacity. Weather anomalies at the beginning of the mosquito breeding season might act as an early warning signal for public health authorities, enabling them to strengthen in advance ongoing surveillance and prevention strategies.

The easiest, inexpensive and most environment-friendly method to control malaria is by preventing themosquito from laying eggs in stagnated water. Source reduction of mosquito breeding is effective measurefor prevention of mosquito borne diseases especially dengue and malaria. The purpose of this study is toidentify the source of breeding, pinning of precise locations and immediate implementation of remedialmeasures for removal of source of mosquito breeding sites.Utilising the most popular messenger app (WhatsApp) with combination of Web mapping app (Googlemaps) as a tool for public health measure became very user friendly irrespective of the level of skill andinexpensive comparatively to GIS. This study has been carried under project name called “Vector Hunt”.

Mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases have always been a great threat to human health. Mosquito control based on sustainable vector management strategy is particularly important. In Zhejiang Province, exemplary villages of sustainable mosquito control (“mosquito-free villages”) have been successful operated, providing a new model of mosquito control in rural areas based on local conditions. The construction of “mosquito-free village” will apply environmentally-friendly and appropriate technologies to eliminate and transform mosquito breeding sites and to establish mechanisms of cultivating villagers’ health literacy of scientific mosquito control and voluntary participation in control activities to keep mosquito density low long-term.

Malaria is a disease which is transmitted through the bite of Anopheles mosquito. This study aimed to analyse the difference of type of Anopheles larva breeding places between low malaria case area, namely Mandor Village, and high malaria case area, namely North Amboyo Village, both in Landak Regency, West Kalimantan Province. The samples of Anopheles mosquito breeding places was acquired through accidental sampling from all Anopheles larva breeding places and spatial mapping of breeding place points. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test and Mann-whitney test. This study found 70 breeding place points which consisted of 8 types of place, namely dig well, drilled well, Illegal Gold Mining (PETI) well, puddle, fish pond, sewer, swamp, and rice field. The lowest larva density in Mandor Village was at PETI well (0.48/dip) and the highest was at dig well (0.75/dip). In North Amboyo Village, the lowest density was at number 3 dig well (0.2/dip) and the highest was at rice field (2.3/dip). It can be concluded that there was a significant difference of Anopheles breeding places between low and high malaria case areas.

A longitudinal study in under constructing Manholes (considered as mosquito breeding trap of the study area) in a newly constructing road in the ward number 35 was conducted in the post monsoon period of 2016. Four species of mosquito population were available in the stagnant water of temporary breeding sites. Among them Cx. quinquefasciatus was the dominant species (98.6%) followed by Cx. tritaeniorhynchus (0.5%), Ar. subalbatus (0.5%) and Cx. fuscocephala (0.4%). Though the breeding sites were temporary and stayed until finishing the construction, yet the results indicated the abundant population of available mosquitoes including status of key species in the urban area of the city corporation.Bangladesh J. Zool. 45(2): 139-148, 2017

Dengue fever occurrences are still problematic in Nanggulan district, Kulon Progo regency, which is in each year, the number of cases varies in each village. This research used ‘cross sectional’ design which samples of this research were taken from all the houses in Wijimulyo village as endemic village, and Banyuroto village as non-endemic village. The number of samples used in this research of 94 respondents. The instrument that used in obtaining data were questionnaires and observation check list. The result of Chi Square test in endemic village with influential factor dengue mosquito brending eradication was respondent attitude (p = 0,009) Contingency coefficient (p = 0,391), corelation is adequate, and action (p = 0,009) contingency coeficcient (p = 0,391) corelation is adequate . The result of Chi Square test in non endemic village with influential factor mosquito brending eradication was action (p = 0,011) Contingency coefficient (p = 0,422) corelation is adequate and action (p = 0,040) Contingency coefficient (p = 0,365) corealtion is adeqaute and it is found the fact that it’s better in non endemic village than in endemic village. Variable which influenced respondent attitude and existance of wiggler were not draining the tub over a week, used bucket, used can, used tire, not covering the tub, having fishless fond, so that the public health departement through Puskesmas suggest to conduct counseling of dengue mosquito breeding eridication, fond village monitoring by village officer and health officer to be drained in harvest season until planting season, changing permanent tub with impermanent one or big bucket in order to be easy to be cleaned.Keywords:Dengue Fever, Mosquito Breedin

From 1997 until 2014 we carried out a GIS-based systematic mapping of mosquito breeding sites on a 2,690 km2 area in the important touristic regions of Hungary. During the process of data collection of the mosquito fauna, 42,547 adults of 26 species and 34,409 larvae of 28 species were collected. The ecological characteristics of the breeding sites were recorded by means of 4,543 samples. We have specified 13,808 breeding sites playing important role in mosquito harm for the human population with an overall area of 7,967 hectares in topologically correct digital maps. We have established that approximately 1% of the administrative area of mosquito affected lands and 10% of wetlands can be considered as target areas for biological control taking human viewpoints into account. According to the results of our research, the most environment-friendly (affecting about 10% of the wetland areas routinely treated), economical and effective mosquito control can be carried out by BTI treatments based on GIS mappings.

A survey of mosquito breeding places in a municipal cemetery in Curitiba, Parana State, Brazil, revealed about 60,000 flower vases, with the potential to support a population of approximately 12 million Cx. p. quinquefasciatusand Oc. fluviatilis [Georgecraigius fluviatilis] larvae per year (Lozovei and Chahad 1997).

BackgroundInsecticide-treated Nets (ITNs) and house modifications are proven vector control tools, yet full coverage has frequently not been achieved. This study investigates factors associated with ITN access and use of house modification in Tanzania.MethodsBaseline data from cross-sectional surveys was analysed from 7,240 households in Bagamoyo (60km north of Dar es Salaam) and 1,241 households in Ulanga (a remote rural area), from previous studies on spatial repellants and indoor residual spray evaluation. We estimated the associations between the outcomes: population access to ITNs, ITN per sleeping spaces, presence of window screens and closed eaves, and the covariates household size, age, gender, pregnancy, education, mosquito entry (doors and windows), house modification (window screens & closed eaves), mean distance to mosquito breeding sites and wealth using regression models.ResultsPopulation access to ITNs (households with one ITN per two potential people that stayed in the house the previous night of the survey) was 64% (56 - 71) and ITNs per sleeping spaces (households with enough ITNs to cover all sleeping spaces used the previous night of the survey) was 63% (54 - 72) in Bagamoyo, three years after the last Universal Coverage Campaigns (UCC). These findings are both lower than the 80% coverage target of the Tanzania National Malaria Strategic Plan (Tanzania NMSP). In Ulanga, population access to ITNs was 84% (78 - 91) and ITNs per sleeping spaces was 93% (89 - 97), one year after the last UCC. Household size was significantly associated with lower access to ITNs even shortly after UCC. House modification was common in both areas. In Bagamoyo, screened windows were more common than closed eaves (61% vs 14%) whereas in Ulanga more houses had closed eaves than window screens (55% vs 12%). Households in the poorest quintile were less likely to adopt window screening and closing eaves in Bagamoyo, this contrasts with Ulanga district where a greater proportion of poorer households blocked eaves with mud but were less likely to adopt screening.ConclusionPopulation access to ITN was substantially lower than the targets of the Tanzania NMSP after three years and lower among larger households after one year following ITN campaign. House modification was common in both areas, motivated by wealth. Improved access to ITNs and window screens through subsidy, especially among larger households, uptake of a combination of these two interventions may be maximized.

The two major varieties are Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. Plasmodium falciparum is the most wide spread and dangerous of the four. Rajasthan also provides favourable environment to mosquitoes. Kota lies on latitude – 25°10` N & longitude – 75°50` with the intervention of Chambal river coming from Madhyapradesh and running throughout Kota city irrigating various rural areas via man made channels. Kota has also been a favourite place for mosquito breeding & hence a record of malaria & dengue cases reported are more from neighbouring Bundi (Roteda) & Kota city in comparison to other districts of Rajasthan. In Kota city maximum cases of malaria occur during August to October. The mosquitoes are more active in humid atmosphere. The rainy season falls between June to September. Rainfall provides water for mosquito breeding as well as increases humidity of the atmosphere for survival of the mosquitoes. Key words: Mosquito-borne diseases, anopheline, mosquitoes and malaria.

Objective We investigated this outbreak to describe the magnitude and associated risk factors due to the malaria outbreak in Tanquae Abergelle district, Tigray, Ethiopia, in 2017. Result Case fatality rate of this study was zero. Among the 62 cases and 124 controls, the presence of mosquito breeding sites [OR = 6.56 CI (2.09–20.58) P value = 0.001], sleeping outside a home [OR = 5.06 CI (1.75–14.61) P-value = 0.003] and having unscreened window [OR = 14.89 CI (1.87–118.25) P-value = 0.011] were associated with illness in multivariate analysis.

Dirofilariosis is an emerging mosquito-borne veterinary and medical problem in the Northern hemisphere. The ecological investigation of 56 canine dirofilariosis cases in new endemic locations was performed in Szeged, Hungary. The aim was to analyse the influence of the spatial patterns of dog abundance and the potential mosquito breeding habitats on the spatial occurrence patterns of dirofilariosis in the city of Szeged. The limnoecological characterisation was based on the fluvial habitat classification of Amoros of natural water bodies; the built environment was evaluated using the UrbanisationScore urbanisation intensity measuring software. Dirofilaria immitis accounted for 51% and D. repens for 34.3% of the dirofilariosis cases, and in 20% of the cases only the Knott’s test was positive. It was concluded that most of the cases were related to locations with a medium to high urbanisation index, although the proximity of mosquito-bearing waters also played an important role in the observed spatial infection patterns. We found that the distance from potential mosquito habitats and the urbanisation intensity determine the abundance of dirofilariosis in urban environments.

Space spraying is still considered as the most powerful method to control the spread of dengue virus transmission, particularly in an emergency such as an outbreak. However, there is still limited information about how the knowledge and perception of people about space spraying against dengue. This study aimed to assess knowledge and community perception of space spraying against dengue in an endemic area. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, involved 273 respondents in three endemic areas in Kebumen Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. Structured questionnaires about knowledge and perception of space spraying were administered to the respondents. The 41.4% of respondents had poor knowledge about space spraying, and 42.1% had a negative perspective about space spaying. Only 15.4 % of respondents aware that space spraying applications must be carried out based on several criteria and procedures. Most of them assumed that space spraying can be applied anytime and feel secure when space spraying was applied in their near area. Lack of knowledge and false security on space spraying applications could make people less active to conduct routine practice of mosquito breeding site eradication. It is important to enhance community knowledge and perception of space spraying, so they could understand that space spraying application only for emergencies and routine mosquito breeding site prevention must be carried out regularly.

Objective: The purpose of this review was to discuss the effectiveness of public health policies in controlling Zika virus (ZIKV) in Brazil from 2015 to 2019 with an emphasis in the state of Pernambuco. Literature Review: Zika virus is an arbovirus primarily transmitted to humans by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Since 2015, the control of Aedes aegypti proliferation and diffusion has been a global subject of discussion due to its role in ZIKV transmission and the emergence of serious clinical symptoms resulting from this infection. In Brazil, the public policies established to control ZIKV outbreak were mostly based on vector control. Final Considerations: The coping model to manage the transmission vector of ZIKV is not showing to be effective. Furthermore, until the social factors that favor the development and maintenance of mosquito breeding sites are eradicated, Brazil will continue to be susceptible to new outbreaks of mosquito-driven arboviruses. Here, we discussed the effectiveness of public health policies for the control of ZIKV in Brazil from 2015 to 2019, with a primary focus on the state of Pernambuco (PE).

Background In Ethiopia malaria is one of the leading causes of outpatient visits and admission. Still, it remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the study area. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the knowledge, practice, and determinant of malaria case households in rural areas of Raya Azebo district, Northern Ethiopia. Method A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in the selected villages of Raya Azebo district from January to June 2017. A multi-stage random sampling method was employed to select a total of 422 study households. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The household head was interviewed face to face. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the determinant of malaria cases households. Result A total of 412 (97.6) of the respondents had ever heard about malaria. About 63% of households recognized the causes of malaria to be a mosquito bite. Around 173 (41%) of the study households had been treated for malaria within a year of data collection. This study also revealed that the presence of mosquito breeding sites near to home, bed bug infestation, outdoor sleep due to bed bugs and household with poor bed net practicing were significantly associated with malaria case households. Conclusion Although the overall knowledge on malaria transmission, symptoms, and the preventive measure was relatively good, the rate of household insecticide-treated net coverage and utilization were reported low in the area. Therefore, the distribution of adequate bed net with community-based education is a key intervention to promote household insecticide-treated net utilization. In addition, an effective bed bug management strategy is necessary to overcome the outdoor sleeping habit of the community in the area.

In 2017, a chikungunya outbreak in central Italy later evolved into a secondary cluster in southern Italy, providing evidence of disease emergence in new areas. Officials have taken action to raise awareness among clinicians and the general population, increase timely case detection, reduce mosquito breeding sites, and promote mosquito bite prevention.

Background In 2013 and 2014, Singapore experienced its worst dengue outbreak known-to-date. Mosquito breeding in construction sites stood out as a probable risk factor due to its association with major dengue clusters in both years. We, therefore, investigated the contribution of construction sites to dengue transmission in Singapore, highlighting three case studies of large construction site-associated dengue clusters recorded during 2013–16. Methods The study included two components; a statistical analysis of cluster records from 2013 to 2016, and case studies of three biggest construction site-associated clusters. We explored the odds of construction site-associated clusters growing into major clusters and determined whether clusters seeded in construction sites demonstrated a higher tendency to expand into major clusters. DENV strains obtained from dengue patients residing in three major clusters were genotyped to determine whether the same strains expanded into the surroundings of construction sites. Results Despite less than 5% of total recorded clusters being construction site-associated, the odds of such clusters expanding into major clusters were 17.4 (2013), 9.2 (2014), 3.3 (2015) and 4.3 (2016) times higher than non-construction site clusters. Aedes premise index and average larvae count per habitat were also higher in construction sites than residential premises during the study period. The majority of cases in clusters associated with construction sites were residents living in the surroundings. Virus genotype data from three case study sites revealed a transmission link between the construction sites and the surrounding residential areas. Conclusions Significantly high case burden and the probability of cluster expansion due to virus spill-over into surrounding areas suggested that construction sites play an important role as a driver of sustained dengue transmission. Our results emphasise that the management of construction-site associated dengue clusters should not be limited to the implicated construction sites, but be extended to the surrounding premises to prevent further transmission. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12879-018-3311-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is a pandemic and a public health emergency. It is transmitted by mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes genus. In light of no treatment currently, it is crucial to develop effective vector control programs to prevent the spread of ZIKV infection earlier when observing possible risk factors, such as weather conditions enhancing mosquito breeding and surviving. Methods This study collected daily meteorological measurements and weekly ZIKV infectious cases among 32 departments of Colombia from January 2015–December 2016. This study applied the distributed lag nonlinear model to estimate the association between the number of ZIKA virus infection and meteorological measurements, controlling for spatial and temporal variations. We examined at most three meteorological factors with 20 lags in weeks in the model. Results Average humidity, total rainfall, and maximum temperature were more predictable of ZIKV infection outbreaks than other meteorological factors. Our models can detect significantly lagged effects of average humidity, total rainfall, and maximum temperature on outbreaks up to 15, 14, and 20 weeks, respectively. The spatial analysis identified 12 departments with a significant threat of ZIKV, and eight of those high-risk departments were located between the Equator and 6°N. The outbreak prediction also performed well in identified high-risk departments. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that meteorological factors could be used for predicting ZIKV epidemics. Building an early warning surveillance system is important for preventing ZIKV infection, particularly in endemic areas. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12879-018-3085-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Gold-mining may play an important role in the maintenance of malaria worldwide. Gold-mining, mostly illegal, has significantly expanded in Colombia during the last decade in areas with limited health care and disease prevention. We report a descriptive study that was carried out to determine the malaria prevalence in gold-mining areas of Colombia, using data from the public health surveillance system (National Health Institute) during the period 2010-2013. Gold-mining was more prevalent in the departments of Antioquia, Córdoba, Bolívar, Chocó, Nariño, Cauca, and Valle, which contributed 89.3% (270,753 cases) of the national malaria incidence from 2010-2013 and 31.6% of malaria cases were from mining areas. Mining regions, such as El Bagre, Zaragoza, and Segovia, in Antioquia, Puerto Libertador and Montelíbano, in Córdoba, and Buenaventura, in Valle del Cauca, were the most endemic areas. The annual parasite index (API) correlated with gold production (R2 0.82, p < 0.0001); for every 100 kg of gold produced, the API increased by 0.54 cases per 1,000 inhabitants. Lack of malaria control activities, together with high migration and proliferation of mosquito breeding sites, contribute to malaria in gold-mining regions. Specific control activities must be introduced to control this significant source of malaria in Colombia.

The disease environment could help explain underdevelopment in Africa. This article shows that local malaria risk is associated with worse local development outcomes. Combining an Ethiopian household survey with satellite-derived topographical information, the article shows that malaria incidence is correlated with village elevation, slope and their interaction; that is, malaria is sensitive to elevation in flatlands, where the habitat is suitable for mosquito breeding, but not in steeper lands. Using topography as a predictor of the disease environment, education levels are found to be negatively correlated with malaria. I find suggestive evidence that some other outcomes are related to malaria risk. Finally, the performance of topography predictors is assessed against other climate-based predictors of malaria.

This article aims to identify the level of similarity between dengue and climatic, sociodemographic and sanitation variables in Brazilian Northeast capitals between 2001 and 2012, by cluster analysis, an explanatory technique used on multivariate data to verify the interrelationship between groups formed by the similar distances among its components. The results, validated by Spearman, showed high correlation (p-value ≤ 0.0001) of dengue with: female subjects between 10-19 years old and over 79 years old; the annual total of urban public waste collected by all types of agents, especially private agents; and the total extent of area swept by public agents, suggesting that a higher volume of residues would lead to higher occurrence of mosquito breeding sites transmitting the disease. There was also some correlation with the indexes of water and sewage treatment, suggesting that it is related to the maintenance of the mosquito-borne life cycle due to the water availability.

Malaria remains a major health problem in Ghana. Mosquito breeding sites play significant role in malaria infection and transmission, but studies in this area are scanty in Ghana. This study assesses the association between housing surroundings with mosquito breeding sites and self-reported cases of malaria in two communities in Central Region of Ghana. In a cross-sectional study, 319 representatives of households in two communities in Central Region of Ghana provided information on self-reported malaria cases, use of ITN and some demographic characteristics. The surroundings of houses were also inspected for presence of mosquito breeding sites. Using chi square test, variables were compared between the two communities and with logistic regression analyses, the factors associated with self-reported malaria was assessed. Prevalence of self-reported malaria was 23.2%. More than half (58.6%) of the houses had surroundings that could serve a breeding sties for mosquitoes. Educational level and community were independently associated with self-reported cases of malaria. By multivariate analyses the community in the forest belt (OR=2.894; 95% CI: 1.672 – 5,010; P=0.000) remained significantly associated with self-reported malaria. Prevalence of self–reported malaria was high in the region, with the community in the forest belt having higher malaria prevalence than the community in the coastal belt. The proportion of housing surroundings with potential breeding sites for mosquito was high. The fight against malaria could intensify efforts that improve behaviours for avoiding of mosquito bites and keeping housing surroundings clean.

Dengue is one of the rapidly spreading and deadly diseases in Sri Lanka, transmitted by the bite of infected female Aedes mosquitoes. Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) in Sri Lanka are facing a problem of identifying certain dengue mosquito breeding sites which are capable of retaining water. The goal of such inspection of suspected sites is to reduce the number of dengue patients by eradicating dengue mosquito habitats. A drone which has been created with the rapid advancement of technology, is one of the most cost effective apparatus to capture the mosquito breeding sites. It can inspect both accessible and inaccessible places to a human. With respect to the aforesaid context, this paper presents a simple and a novel approach to identify dengue mosquito breeding sites via drone images. The proposed approach captures the images of the water retention areas via a drone and generates the map, marking those areas in the map. The field test found that the proposed method, produces a satisfactory level of accuracy in identifying possible water retention areas and the final results depend on the drone camera tilt angle and the effect of shadows.

While the development of land for residential housing along the Swan and Canning Rivers in Perth, Western Australia has reduced natural mosquito breeding sites, the role of backyard container breeding remains a relatively unknown factor. Local Governments responsible for these areas focus management and control efforts on low lying, tidally driven mosquito habitats to control Aedes vigilax (Skuse) and Aedes camptorhynchus (Thomson) mosquitoes in an effort to reduce both the nuisance and disease risk to residents. In spite of their efforts, Local Governments continue to receive complaints regarding mosquito nuisance, even when environmental conditions do not favour hatching and development of the two species in the Swan River tidal flats. In this study 150 backyard inspections were conducted in the residential suburb of Bassendean, Perth, Western Australia, situated in close proximity to the Swan River tidal plain. The occurrence and species composition of the mosquito fauna found in residential backyards was documented. Of the backyards inspected, 94% were found to possess containers capable of breeding mosquitoes, although only 3% contained mosquito larvae. Nine species of mosquito were collected from containers ranging in capacity from 0.05L to 50L across the study area. Additionally, encephalitis virus surveillance trapping was conducted within residential properties and compared to the tidally driven natural habitat at Ashfield Flats and a tidally influenced brackish creekline at Bindaring Park. The species composition of the fauna at the three habitat types differed significantly, with Aedes notoscriptus (Skuse) dominating residential lots and Aedes vigilax more prevalent at the saltmarsh site. Bindaring Park had an adult composition at the mid-point of these two habitats, reflecting its proximity to both the Swan River and residential lots.

Introduction: Vector-borne diseases account for over 17% of all infectious diseases. Up to 700 million people are infected and more than a million die each year from mosquito-borne illness. The extent of people’s cooperation can determine the success or failure of the entire campaign for Mosquito control. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out in Kanyakumari district among 180 individuals selected through multi-stage sampling. Data was collected using a semi structured interview schedule. Results: Every one of the study participants knew that mosquitoes spread diseases. Dengue was the most common disease related to Mosquito. Among the respondents, 113(62.7%) answered that coconut shells most common mosquito breeding place. Coconut shells (66%) & Open drainages (61.1%) were reason for water stagnation inside & outside their own compound respectively. 71.1% have seen mosquito larva in stagnant water around their house and among them 75.8% have done something to kill larva. Most common method used was putting bleaching powder in the larva breeding places (39%) followed by source reduction (26.5%). Bleaching powder was also the most common method (57%) used for prevention of mosquito breeding. 78.9% of the households were using personal protective measures, mosquito coil (59.8%), the most commonly used method. Only 38.5% of them said that fogging was done in their area in past 6 months. Conclusion: A good proportion of the households are taking preventive measures, but still so many households lacks practice or found to be doing wrong practices. Therefore, we recommend that community should be empowered with the right & adequate knowledge.

Background Dams are important to ensure food security and promote economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. However, a poor understanding of the negative public health consequences from issues such as malaria could affect their intended advantages. This study aims to compare the malaria situation across elevation and proximity to dams. Such information may contribute to better understand how dams affect malaria in different eco-epidemiological settings. Methods Larval and adult mosquitoes were collected from dam and non-dam villages around the Kesem (lowland), Koka (midland), and Koga (highland) dams in Ethiopia between October 2013 and July 2014. Determination of blood meal sources and detection of Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites was done using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Five years of monthly malaria case data (2010–2014) were also collected from health centers in the study villages. Results Mean monthly malaria incidence was two- and ten-fold higher in the lowland dam village than in midland and highland dam villages, respectively. The total surface area of anopheline breeding habitats and the mean larval density was significantly higher in the lowland dam village compared with the midland and highland dam villages. Similarly, the mean monthly malaria incidence and anopheline larval density was generally higher in the dam villages than in the non-dam villages in all the three dam settings. Anopheles arabiensis, Anopheles pharoensis, and Anopheles funestus s.l. were the most common species, largely collected from lowland and midland dam villages. Larvae of these species were mainly found in reservoir shoreline puddles and irrigation canals. The mean adult anopheline density was significantly higher in the lowland dam village than in the midland and highland dam villages. The annual entomological inoculation rate (EIR) of An. arabiensis, An. funestus s.l., and An. pharoensis in the lowland dam village was 129.8, 47.8, and 33.3 infective bites per person per annum, respectively. The annual EIR of An. arabiensis and An. pharoensis was 6.3 and 3.2 times higher in the lowland dam village than in the midland dam village. Conclusions This study found that the presence of dams intensifies malaria transmission in lowland and midland ecological settings. Dam and irrigation management practices that could reduce vector abundance and malaria transmission need to be developed for these regions.

A perspectiva apontada pelos cenários climáticos desenvolvidos para o Brasil é de provável aumento no número de eventos hidrometeorológicos extremos nos próximos anos. Por isso, se faz importante o estudo dos agravos em saúde que poderão se intensificar em decorrência desses eventos. Portanto, por meio deste artigo, propõe-se estimar o custo representado pelos casos de dengue atribuídos ao desastre de 2011, em Nova Friburgo (RJ). Verificou-se que ocorreram 1.356 casos suspeitos de dengue, dos quais 937 foram confirmados. O custo total da doença pode ter variado, no mínimo, entre R$ 66 mil e R$ 499 mil, no cenário de menor valor de salário, sendo que cerca de 70% desse custo ocorreu entre os casos confirmados. O desastre provocou grandes mudanças no ambiente do município que, junto com os problemas de saneamento e limpeza urbana, que ocorreram em períodos posteriores ao evento, acabou por aumentar a disponibilidade de locais que pudessem servir de criadouro do mosquito, facilitando sua proliferação e aumentando a incidência da dengue, doença que na década anterior ao desastre teve baixa incidência no município. Isso ilustra o potencial que eventos como ao ocorrido em 2011, em Nova Friburgo, podem ter no incremento desses casos e, consequentemente, nos custos da doença.

Dengue fever remains a public health problem. Environmental factors influence the mosquito Aedes aegypti’s growth, especially if there are many containers in the neighborhood. The community of Nanggungan Village have a habit of storing water in containers, therefore, they risk to become breeding sites for mosquitoes. This study aims to identify the Maya Index status of Aedes aegypti between Tegalrejo and Krajan Kidul Village. The research was observational with a cross-sectional design. Total samples were 200 homes, which 100 homes from Tegalrejo and 100 homes from Krajan Kidul Village, taken by simple random sampling. The measurement of variables employed observation sheet and analyzed in a descriptive approach. The number of containers observed in the Tegalrejo Village was 394 units, and Karajan Kidul Village was 391 units. Maya Index statuses in Tegalrejo (92%) and Krajan Kidul Village (88%) were low. Maya Index status in Krajan Kidul (13%) was higher than Tegalrejo Village (8%). House Index (HI) in the Tegalrejo (18.0%) was lower than Krajan Kidul Village (25.0%), Container Index in Tegalrejo (5.30%) was lower than in Krajan Kidul Village (8.95%), Breteau Index in Tegalrejo (21.0%) was lower than in Krajan Kidul Village (35.0%), Density Figure in Tegalrejo and Krajan Kidul Village indicated a scale of 3 and 4. Based on the MI’s status, Tegalrejo and Krajan Kidul Village were included as a low-risk category of mosquito breeding sites. Based on the density number of larvae, two villages have a moderate risk of Dengue Fever transmission. The community should implement the Mosquitoes Breeding Sites Eradication Program (PSN 3M Plus) and minimize the presence of the containers.

Background: Dengue virus can cause a wide range of illness in humans, from unapparent infection, to classic dengue fever and to fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever. Until a vaccine becomes available for public health use, primary prevention of transmission is crucial to decrease the burden of dengue, and control of Aedes is the only available strategy.Methods: The mosquito larval survey was carried out in the month of November 2017 in Echangadu, a coastal village in Puducherry to assess mosquito breeding sources for the presence of dengue vector species. The survey was performed by selecting houses where freshwater was available. For each household, the presence or absence of possible breeding sources were recorded, as well as the presence or absence of mosquito larvae.Results: Of the 102 houses surveyed, 20 of the houses were infested with Aedes larvae. A total of 182 containers were found in these households of which 47 containers were positive for Aedes larvae. Coconut shells, plastic, metal and discarded containers were the most often found breeding sites.Conclusions: The larval surveillance indicators among the households surveyed revealed a very high risk of future dengue outbreak in the village. All the containers examined including those positive for Aedes larvae were safely disposed.

The knowledge of the natural characteristics of the mosquito breeding habitats is important for implementing effective larval control program. For this, the association of six mosquito species (Culex pipiens,Cx. perexiguus,Cx. pusillus,Ochlerotatus caspius,Anopheles multicolorandCuliseta longiareolata) with the physical characteristics of their breeding habitats was examined in El-MuqattamandAbu-Seir; of the urban areas in Cairo Governorate. Based on the highest frequency of occurrence (PGambusia affinis) and absence of aquatic vegetations. In Abu-Seir: large sites (>10m perimeter), mud bottoms, presence of aquatic vegetations and absence of predators. The study concluded that theenvironmental control measures based on modifying habitat characteristics can be effective in controlling targeted mosquito species specially those vectors of diseases.

Problems of mosquito vectors proliferation have been increasing in Cairo in conjunction with urbanization and industrialization where several anopheline and culicine species have been collected. The present study was carried out to characterize the landscape variables potentially associated with mosquito breeding in a subset of urban Cairo. The study compared the capabilities of two satellite sensors, namely Landsat TM5 and Ikonos; in such endeavor. The study area encompassed 18 urban districts of Cairo. Mosquito breeding habitats were characterized within the district level using integrated remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) analyses. Different environmental variables derived from both satellite imageries were used to characterize landscapes of districts where mosquito breeding habitats occur. These variables include urbanization level, Land Use Land Cover (LULC), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), wetness, and Band 2/Band 4 (B2/B4) ratios. The majority of mosquito breeding sites (93.5%) were found in slum areas. For both sensors, districts where breeding sites occurred were characterized by significantly higher mean of soil percentage and lower mean of majority wetness. At this level of characterization, Landsat TM5 would be adequate for the major identification of habitat areas. For targeting mosquito larval control however, Ikonos would provide better inputs as it allowed a better classification of small land cover classes including water.

In this paper we present a technique for identifying the presence of stagnant water bodies in images taken in various settings. Stagnant water bodies, such as puddles, can become sites for mosquitos to grow, which increases the likelihood of the spread of diseases, such as Zika [1]. We observe that existing techniques perform poorly on images of variable quality, variable backgrounds, and focus. We present a technique that is able to successfully identify puddles in these images with about 88% accuracy and over 95% recall. Our technique is robust to image focus, background, and quality, making it a good choice for datasets produced by various kinds of cameras, including those on mobile phones, thermal imagers and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Manisrejo village incidence of dengue fever is the highest among the City of Madiun. The number of cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever in that village was as many as 84 cases in 2010-2014. This study aims to find out about the incidence of dengue fever. By measuring behavioral factors, assess physical factors, calculating factor-free numbers larva, evaluate PSN (mosquito nest eradication), evaluates health services, measuring the socio-economic factors, and to describe the incidence of dengue fever. This type of research is a descriptive study. Populations were all cases of dengue fever in the village Manisrejo District of the City of Madiun. The sample is purposive sampling counted 84 cases and the controls. The results generated from the calculation of questionnaires and observation done. It is known that most of the respondents behavior is bad namely 87.8%, physical factors such as temperature and humidity most of the houses of the respondents have optimum temperature and humidity which is a mosquito breeding sites by 83.67%. Village ofManisrejois still not free from larvae, this is because free larva houseswere still below 95%, the mosquito eradication is bad that is equal to 59.2%, patients with dengue fever in the village Manisrejo utilize health services and are willing to seek treatment when exposed to pain, patients with dengue fever at most households were not poor 84,7%. It is recommended to the citizens in order to improve the attitudes and actions of mosquito control, as well as the mobilization of mosquito eradication movement cadres in particular for monitoring larvae, as well as public attention to environmental conditions such as opening a window or vent, this can help to regulate the temperature and humidity.

The incidence of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is still a public health problem in Indonesia. Observations over a period of 20 to 25 years since the beginning of the discovering of the disease, has show the increase of the diseases incidence every five years. The purpose of this study are 1) study the diversity of Aedes’s mosquitoes in Sukabumi City, 2) measure the Aedes population based on the number of eggs and ovitrap index, and 3) to know the correlation between ovitrap index and house condition. Aedes eggs were collected from 14 villages in Sukabumi City that has the highest incidence rate, started from May 2015 until August 2015. Collecting eggs is done by setting a trap eggs (ovitrap) as many as 230 pieces in 115 homes (indoor and outdoor). The results showed that Ae. aegypti were found inside houses and Ae. albopictus were outside houses. The number of eggs collected from ovitrap inside the houses were three times more than those collected from outside. Ovitrap index inside houses was 60%, or 1.6 times more than the ovitrap index outside the houses (37%) in 14 villages in Sukabumi. Houses with poor ventilation and sanitation increased the risk 3.09 times of number of ovitrap index. The results of this study could be use as basic information for the communities to improved environment hygiene through reduced mosquito breeding sites, thus degraded the incidence of dengue

The lagoon is a form of semi-enclosed bay which is one type of an estuary. In lagoon water there is a meeting and mixing of freshwater and seawater thus it causes free relationship between the sea and the source of freshwater. The effect of tides that mixed with freshwater will cause a change of the aquatic character instantly. It will certainly affect the diversity of organism species, including bacteria. Some types of bacteria, one of them is Bacillus, it is basically soil bacteria, but commonly found in fresh and brackish waters. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of morphology, colonies and biochemistry of bacteria that isolated from sediments of mosquito breeding lagoon in the coast of Medana village, Tanjung district, North Lombok regency. This research was descriptive observational, used non random purposive sampling with 15 samples. Data collected in the form of types of bacteria found in 15 points from sediments of mosquito breeding lagoon. The data analysis used descriptive analysis. The results of 15 points of lagoon sediments that isolated, from 15 bacteria colonies that was identified as morphological, colonies and biochemical characteristics found three types of bacteria: Aeramonas schubertii, Bacillus subtilis, and Enterbacter agglomerans. The conclusion is the sediments of mosquito breeding lagoon in the coast of Medana Village, Tanjung district, North Lombok regency is obtained the bacteria, for instace: Aeramonas schubertii, Bacillus subtilis, and Enterobacter agglomerans.

Although it is very important in view of public health to understand the mosquito breeding sites and key reservoirs existing around residential areas, such information is lacking in temporary housing sites constructed after the serious tsunami strikes on 26 December 2004 in Sri Lanka. This study clarified the situation regarding mosquito breeding 14 months after the tsunami in Sri Lanka by surveying temporary housing and non-damaged village areas, and also by examining people‘s knowledge related to mosquito breeding sites and mosquito-borne diseases. The relative frequency of mosquito larvae in wastewater pools was significantly higher in temporary housing than in village areas. The prevalence of storage containers at temporary housing and village areas was not significantly different. It was found that wastewater pools in temporary housing sites were the main breeding site of Culex quinquefasciatus Say, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus Giles, and Aedes albopictus Skuse whereas storage containers in village areas were the main breeding site of Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae. albopictus. No mosquitoes bred in storage containers in the temporary housing but some Ae. albopictus did so in village areas. The questionnaires indicated a significant difference between residents of temporary housing and villages in response to the question: Do you know where mosquitoes breed? The proportion of the “wastewater pools” response was higher among temporary housing residents than among village residents. This knowledge among temporary housing residents may relate to the fact that wastewater pools are latent breeding sites for mosquitoes in temporary housing sites. Although residents in the temporary housing sites put salt and abluent into storage containers to prevent mosquitoes from breeding, wastewater pools receiving a constant supply of wastewater provided the best breeding site for mosquitoes., Tropical Medicine and Health, 38(2), pp.81-86; 2010

BACKGROUND : Climatic variables can determine malaria transmission dynamics. To see the correlation between malaria occurrence and climatic variables, records of malaria episodes over eight years period were analyzed incorporating climatic variables around Gilgel-Gibe Hydroelectric Dam and control sites. METHODS : Records of 99,206 confirmed malaria episodes registered between 2003 and 2011 were analyzed along with local meteorological data of the same duration. Data were analyzed with SPSS statistical software version 20 for Windows. Spearman correlation coefficient was estimated as a measure of the correlation. RESULTS : The major peaks of malaria prevalence were observed following the peaks of rainfall in the Gilgel-Gibe Hydroelectric Dam site. In the control site, the peaks of malaria in some years coincided with the peaks of rainfall, and the pattern of rainfall was relatively less fluctuating. Mean rainfall was negatively correlated with number of malaria cases at lags of 0 and 1 month, but positively correlated at lags of 2 to 4 months. Mean relative humidity showed significant positive correlations at lags of 3 to 4 months. Monthly mean maximum and minimum temperatures weakly correlated at lags of 0 to 4 months. CONCLUSIONS : Correlations of malaria and climate variables were different for the two sites; in Gilgel-Gibe, rainfall and relative humidity showed positive correlations. However, in the control site, the correlation of weather variables and malaria episodes were insignificant. Exploration of additional factors such as vegetation index and physico-chemical nature of mosquito breeding site may improve understanding of determinants of malaria dynamics in the area. KEYWORDS : climatic variables, correlations, Ethiopia, Gilgel-Gibe, malaria

The national resurgence of human West Nile virus (WNV) disease in 2012 raised questions about the factors responsible for WNV outbreaks. Interannual climatic variations may influence WNV amplification and transmission to humans through multiple pathways, including mosquito breeding habitats, gonotrophic cycles, extrinsic incubation, avian communities, and human behavior. We examined the influences of temperature and precipitation anomalies on interannual variation in human WNV cases in three regions of the United States. There were consistent positive influences of winter temperatures, weaker and more variable positive effects of spring and summer temperatures, and highly variable precipi- tation effects that ranged from positive to negative. The overwintering period may be a particularly important climatic constraint on the dynamics of WNV in cold-temperate regions of North America. Geographic differences in the seasonal timing and relative importance of climatic drivers of WNV risk likely reflect underlying variability in key ecological and social characteristics.

The malaria endemic problem is major concern in 14 states and the highland areas of north eastern states and the eight other states of India. The annual prevalence of malaria is estimated 75 million and the death rate is 8 lakhs during the year 1953, and it is gradually reduced to 1.04 million cases and a death rate is 678 in the year 2010. Though a significant result was obtained by the national malaria control programs, the urban and the highland malaria is a very big challenging problem in India.