Epidemic and Endemic Malaria Transmission Related to Fish Farming Ponds in the Amazon Frontier.
Izabel Cristina Dos Reis, Nildimar Alves Honório, Fábio Saito Monteiro de Barros, Christovam Barcellos, Uriel Kitron, Daniel Cardoso Portela Camara, Glaucio Rocha Pereira, Erlei Cassiano Keppeler, Mônica da Silva-Nunes, Cláudia Torres Codeço
Author Information
Izabel Cristina Dos Reis: Programa de Computação Científica, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil; Laboratório Transmissores de Hematozoários, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocurz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Nildimar Alves Honório: Laboratório Transmissores de Hematozoários, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocurz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Núcleo Operacional Sentinela de Mosquitos Vetores-DIRAC/IOC/VPAAPS, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Fábio Saito Monteiro de Barros: Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil.
Christovam Barcellos: Laboratório de Informação em Saúde, Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnológica em Saúde (ICICT), Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Uriel Kitron: Department of Environmental Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
Daniel Cardoso Portela Camara: Laboratório Transmissores de Hematozoários, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocurz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Glaucio Rocha Pereira: Núcleo Operacional Sentinela de Mosquitos Vetores-DIRAC/IOC/VPAAPS, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Erlei Cassiano Keppeler: Universidade Federal do Acre-Universidade da Floresta, Centro Multidiscipinar do Campus Floresta, Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre.
Mônica da Silva-Nunes: Centro de Ciências da Saúde e do Desporto-Universidade Federal do Acre, Rio Branco, Acre.
Cláudia Torres Codeço: Programa de Computação Científica, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Fish farming in the Amazon has been stimulated as a solution to increase economic development. However, poorly managed fish ponds have been sometimes associated with the presence of Anopheles spp. and consequently, with malaria transmission. In this study, we analyzed the spatial and temporal dynamics of malaria in the state of Acre (and more closely within a single county) to investigate the potential links between aquaculture and malaria transmission in this region. At the state level, we classified the 22 counties into three malaria endemicity patterns, based on the correlation between notification time series. Furthermore, the study period (2003-2013) was divided into two phases (epidemic and post-epidemic). Higher fish pond construction coincided both spatially and temporally with increased rate of malaria notification. Within one malaria endemic county, we investigated the relationship between the geolocation of malaria cases (2011-2012) and their distance to fish ponds. Entomological surveys carried out in these ponds provided measurements of anopheline abundance that were significantly associated with the abundance of malaria cases within 100 m of the ponds (P < 0.005; r = 0.39). These results taken together suggest that fish farming contributes to the maintenance of high transmission levels of malaria in this region.
