A quantitative study of naturally-acquired malaria infections in Anopheles Gambiae and Anopheles funestus in a highly malarious area of East Africa

A quantitative study was made of naturally acquired malaria infections among over 37,000 Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus , collected from huts in a hyperendemic area in north-east Tanzania. The numbers of sporozoites estimated to be present in the salivary glands commonly lay between 2,000 and 4,000. The medians and means were higher, with those in A. gambiae exceeding those in A. funestus . The difference is attributed mainly to the circumstance that almost all the heaviest infections encountered, in both guts and glands, occurred in A. gambiae . Over 98% of the oocysts were identified as those of P. falciparum ; the remaining 4 infections, considered to be due to P. malariae , were all in A. funestus .