ABSTRACT
In the south and southeast of Brazil, autochthonous malaria cases can be found near Atlantic Forest fragments. The transmission is not totally clarified; thus, the behaviour of the possible vectors in those regions must be observed. An entomological and natural infection study was performed on anophelines (Diptera: Culicidae) captured in the municipalities of the mountainous region of Espírito Santo state in 2004-2005. Similarly, between the years 2014 and 2015, 12 monthly collections were performed at the permanent trapping station of the study mentioned above (Valsugana Velha, Santa Teresa, ES). Light traps with CO2 (CO2-baited Center for Disease Control [CDC] traps) were set in open areas, at the edge of the forest (canopy and ground) and inside the forest (canopy and ground), whereas Shannon traps were set on the edge of the forest. A total of 1,414 anophelines were collected from 13 species. Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii Dyar and Knab remained the most captured species in the CO2-baited CDC traps set in the forest canopy and was also the vector with the highest prevalence of Plasmodium vivax infection according to molecular PCR techniques. Regarding mosquitoes of the subgenus Nyssorhynchus, P. vivax was found only in abdomens, weakening the hypothesis that this subgenus also plays a role in malaria transmission in this specific region.
Sponsorship Espírito Santo Research Foundation (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Espírito Santo – FAPES).
Footnotes
Crispim Cerutti Junior; Av. Marechal Campos, 1468, Maruípe, Vitória - ES, Zip Code: 29040-091, Brazil; fil.cris{at}terra.com.br.