Unplanned Urbanization Promotes the Proliferation of Disease Vector Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)

ABSTRACT

Malaria is a vector-borne disease transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes. These mosquitoes reproduce themselves in collections of natural or artificial water. To control them, chemical insecticides are intensively sprayed. This intensive use of chemicals has led to the development of resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides. As result, the control of mosquito is increasingly difficult. It is therefore important to look for other control methods against the malaria vector for the elaboration of an integrated mosquito management programme. The aim of the present work is to assess the impact of urbanization on the proliferation of mosquitoes in Benin, West Africa. The entomological data are correlated with the three levels of urbanization that characterize the areas covered by the present study. The density of mosquitoes' larva according to the 3 levels of urbanization is determined and the mosquitoes' fauna and density in regard to the environment compared. High amount of mosquitoe larval breeding sites are encountered in the non-urbanized districts (unplanned urbanization) whereas the urbanized districts contain no mosquito larval breeding sites at all. The majority of adult mosquitoes collected came from the districts where urbanization is anarchical or not well planned. These results have permitted to conclude that unplanned urbanization is a factor that favours the proliferation of mosquitoes. It is therefore suggested to consider well planned urbanization and cleaning up of unhealthy locations as an important part of mosquitoes control programmes.