Study on Breeding Sites, Disease Transmission and Control of Mosquitoes in Zamfara State, Nigeria

Background and Objective: Mosquitoes serve as vectors for the transmission of many diseases like, filariasis, malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, Zika virus and other arboviruses by injecting or ingesting disease-causing organisms to humans through the bite. They cause discomfort and kill more people (over 700,000) each year than any other animal. This study was conducted to determine community awareness of breeding sites, disease transmission and control of mosquitoes in Zamfara State. Materials and Methods: A semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 600 volunteers to obtain the required information and only male and female adult volunteers of >18 years were interviewed to ensure better understanding and responses on the subject matter. Results: This study showed that 72.5% the overall percentage of respondents do not have any knowledge about mosquito breeding sites while 27.5% are aware of different breeding sites. With regard to mosquito-borne diseases, an overall percentage of 93.5% mentioned malaria as the only disease they know to be transmitted by mosquitoes while 6.5% mentioned malaria and lymphatic filariasis only. Control strategies against mosquitoes indicated that the majority of the respondents (32.8%) use mosquito bed nets, followed by other conventional methods, in which only 10.0% were using plant-repellent materials to control mosquitoes and 7.7% are not using any of the control methods. Conclusion: The results showed inadequate awareness among the people of Zamfara State in terms of mosquito breeding places and other mosquito-borne diseases apart from malaria. However, the respondents are using a variety of mosquito control strategies including traditional methods.