What sounds like Aedes, acts like Aedes, but is not Aedes? Lessons from dengue virus control for the management of invasive Anopheles

Abstract

Aedes mosquitoes are responsible for transmission of dengue, chikungunya, Zika, and yellow fever viruses. Aedes mosquitoes are the pathfinders of invasive urban-living mosquitoes, and have spread into 129 countries over the past five decades. In the past 10 years Anopheles stephensi has been identified within densely populated cities in Yemen and across the Horn of Africa and as far west as Nigeria. A stephensi's aggressive spread is closely linked to increases in population movement due to migration, conflict, and climate change; rapid unplanned urbanisation; and resulting poor water quality, sanitation, waste container removal, and hygiene systems. As a highly invasive vector that is adept at transmitting malarial pathogens (eg, Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum), A stephensi's spread holds huge implications for increasing malaria morbidity and mortality. Both vectors (ie, Aedes species and A stephensi) thrive in the same urban environments, and urgent action is needed to seize the opportunity to integrate disease control resources and generate innovative vector-control tools for urban populations, to protect the many millions at risk.