Imperial College London
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Dr Ellie Sherrard-Smith

Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health

Advanced Research Fellow
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 3229e.sherrard-smith

 
 
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Location

 

G27Praed StreetSt Mary's Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Whittaker:2023:10.1073/pnas.2216142120,
author = {Whittaker, C and Hamlet, A and Sherrard-Smith, E and Winskill, P and Cuomo-Dannenburg, G and Walker, PGT and Sinka, M and Pironon, S and Kumar, A and Ghani, A and Bhatt, S and Churcher, TS},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.2216142120},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA},
pages = {1--9},
title = {Seasonal dynamics of Anopheles stephensi and its implications for mosquito detection and emergent malaria control in the Horn of Africa},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2216142120},
volume = {120},
year = {2023}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Invasion of the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi across the Horn of Africa threatens control efforts across the continent, particularly in urban settings where the vector is able to proliferate. Malaria transmission is primarily determined by the abundance of dominant vectors, which often varies seasonally with rainfall. However, it remains unclear how An. stephensi abundance changes throughout the year, despite this being a crucial input to surveillance and control activities. We collate longitudinal catch data from across its endemic range to better understand the vector's seasonal dynamics and explore the implications of this seasonality for malaria surveillance and control across the Horn of Africa. Our analyses reveal pronounced variation in seasonal dynamics, the timing and nature of which are poorly predicted by rainfall patterns. Instead, they are associated with temperature and patterns of land use; frequently differing between rural and urban settings. Our results show that timing entomological surveys to coincide with rainy periods is unlikely to improve the likelihood of detecting An. stephensi. Integrating these results into a malaria transmission model, we show that timing indoor residual spraying campaigns to coincide with peak rainfall offers little improvement in reducing disease burden compared to starting in a random month. Our results suggest that unlike other malaria vectors in Africa, rainfall may be a poor guide to predicting the timing of peaks in An. stephensi-driven malaria transmission. This highlights the urgent need for longitudinal entomological monitoring of the vector in its new environments given recent invasion and potential spread across the continent.
AU  - Whittaker,C
AU  - Hamlet,A
AU  - Sherrard-Smith,E
AU  - Winskill,P
AU  - Cuomo-Dannenburg,G
AU  - Walker,PGT
AU  - Sinka,M
AU  - Pironon,S
AU  - Kumar,A
AU  - Ghani,A
AU  - Bhatt,S
AU  - Churcher,TS
DO  - 10.1073/pnas.2216142120
EP  - 9
PY  - 2023///
SN  - 0027-8424
SP  - 1
TI  - Seasonal dynamics of Anopheles stephensi and its implications for mosquito detection and emergent malaria control in the Horn of Africa
T2  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2216142120
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36791102
UR  - https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2216142120
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/102208
VL  - 120
ER  -
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