Malaria vector analysis and control

Antivector measures in malaria control should aim for a cost-effective reduction of the transmission potential ideally to below the critical level for sustained transmission. The available measures include those that decrease vector abundance, vector-human contact and vector survival rate or that increase the length of the sporogonic cycle. These have widely different impact on malaria transmission, as shown by epidemiological modelling. Direct modification of vector receptivity to Plasmodium is also hypothetically attainable by the use of transmission-blocking vaccines or by genetic manipulation and replacement of the vector population. Vector analysis constitutes the essential prerequisite for basic malaria epidemiology as well as for the development, planning and evaluation of antivector measures. The rationale, the problems and the perspectives of vector analysis are reviewed here by Mario Coluzzi, on the basis of his experience with Afrotropical and Mediterranean malaria vectors.