The influence of house construction on the indoor abundance of mosquitoes.

This study examined the potential effects of different house construction features on the indoor abundance of culicine mosquitoes in Trinidad (TT) and the Dominican Republic (DR) using xenomonitoring surveys. To assess these effects, a survey was taken of different homes in both countries alongside concurrent indoor resting mosquito collections to determine which features may be correlated with a greater abundance. Between June 2002 and April 2003 data were collected from 104 homes in TT and 121 homes in the DR. In TT, 61 (58.65%) of the homes were located in urban areas and 43 (41.35%) were located in rural villages, whereas in the DR 40 (33.06%) were located in rural areas, and 81 (66.94%) in the urban area. Overall, a total of 1,630 mosquitoes were collected in TT, of which 77% were Culex quinquefasciatus, whereas 459 mosquitoes were collected from the DR, of which 46% were Cx. quinquefasciatus. It was found that in TT and the DR the mean number of Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes was greater in cement homes than in either wood or other poorer quality homes (TT cement 17.43, others 14.43; DR cement 4.24, others 3.41). In TT it was found that homes that had painted interiors were significantly more likely to have a high abundance of mosquitoes resting indoors compared to homes without painted interiors (OR 2.90, CI 1.09-8.72). Likewise, having a painted exterior was not significant, but only slightly so, in TT as having a detrimental effect (OR 2.14, CI 0.89-6.67). Similarly, having a painted interior or exterior was also found to be a predictor of a high abundance of indoor resting mosquitoes in the DR (interior OR 3.13, CI 1.41-6.92; exterior OR 1.97, CI .91-4.26). Reduced adult abundance in TT was correlated with homes being built on stilts, with more than four people sleeping in the home, and having a painted interior. In the DR, reductions were correlated with homes where residents slept under a bed net and with people who lived in a rural location. Changes in construction patterns in the Caribbean region could help prevent human-mosquito contact potentially reducing the transmission of certain vector-borne diseases in the population.