Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct;6(10):e05181.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05181. Epub 2020 Oct 5.

COVID-19 lockdown: impact assessment on Aedes larval indices, breeding habitats, effects on vector control programme and prevention of dengue outbreaks

Appadurai Daniel Reegan  1 , Munusamy Rajiv Gandhi  2 , Antony Cruz Asharaja  3 , Chitra Devi  4 , Shanmugam Perumal Shanthakumar  5
Affiliations

COVID-19 lockdown: impact assessment on Aedes larval indices, breeding habitats, effects on vector control programme and prevention of dengue outbreaks

Appadurai Daniel Reegan et al. Heliyon. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Aedes aegypti (Linn.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) are widespread vector mosquitoes responsible for the transmission of various disease-causing viruses to human including dengue virus (DENV). India is endemic for dengue disease and both of these vector mosquitoes are well established throughout India. Since, Aedes mosquitoes breeds in containers, WHO recommends to do a regular immature surveillance and implement appropriate control measures. Owing to the current COVID-19 pandemic, most of the countries have implemented continuous shutdown/lockdown, which affected the routine Aedes surveillance and vector control measures. In India, the first nation-wide lockdown was implemented on 24th, March 2020. As of now, Government of India has extended the lockdown till 30th, June 2020. In the present study, two rounds of Aedes surveillance was carried out in two localities of Bengaluru City (urban) of Karnataka State, India during the COVID-19 lockdown days and results were compared with pre-lockdown surveillance data to assess the impact of lockdown on Aedes larval indices, breeding habitats and dengue vector control programme. The recorded house index (HI) and Breteau index (BI) were 6.6 and 9.3 in K.P. Agrahara and 4.0 and 5.3 in Palace Guttahalli during pre-lockdown survey. The house index (HI) and Breteau index (BI) were found to be increased to 26.6 and 34.6 in K.P. Agrahara and 21.3 and 28.0 in Palace Guttahalli during the COVID-19 lockdown second survey. Aedes immature density has drastically increased in both the localities due to temporarily discontinued Aedes surveillance, larval control activities like source reduction and anti-larval measures during COVID-19 lockdown. The high indices show that the vector is increasing and this may result in higher dengue virus transmission. The results highly recommend to implement the Aedes vector control programme with limited health staffs following the physical distance and other protectives measures to prevent dengue outbreaks.

Keywords: Aedes surveillance; Biological sciences; COVID-19 lockdown; Ecology; Entomology; Health sciences; Insects; Larval indices; Public health; Species dominance index; Vector-borne disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure shows the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on Aedes vector control programme. Aedes positive breeding containers and adult vectors emerged (Ae. aegypti & Ae. albopictus) from the collected samples are given.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Breeding preference rate (in %) of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus with respect to different breeding habitats.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barraud P.J. Ist ed. Taylor and Francis; London: 1931. Fauna of British India Including Ceylon and Burma. Diptera Vol.V; p. 463.
    1. Barraud P.J. Taylor and Francis; London: 1934. Fauna of British India, Diptera, Vol.V. Family Culicidae, Tribes Megarhini and Culicini.
    1. Bowman L.R., Runge-Ranzinger S., McCall P.J. Assessing the relationship between vector indices and dengue transmission: a systematic review of the evidence. PLoS Neglected Trop. Dis. 2014;8(5):e2848. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang C., Wang Y., Li X. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395:497–506. - PMC - PubMed
    1. May R.M. Patterns of species abundance and diversity. In: Cody M.L., Diamond J.M., editors. Ecology and Evolution of Communities. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1975. pp. 81–120.

LinkOut - more resources