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Challenges for malaria elimination in Zanzibar: pyrethroid resistance in malaria vectors and poor performance of long-lasting insecticide nets

Overview of attention for article published in Parasites & Vectors, March 2013
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (97th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (98th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
6 news outlets
blogs
2 blogs

Citations

dimensions_citation
51 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
142 Mendeley
citeulike
2 CiteULike
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Title
Challenges for malaria elimination in Zanzibar: pyrethroid resistance in malaria vectors and poor performance of long-lasting insecticide nets
Published in
Parasites & Vectors, March 2013
DOI 10.1186/1756-3305-6-82
Pubmed ID
Authors

Khamis A Haji, Bakari O Khatib, Stephen Smith, Abdullah S Ali, Gregor J Devine, Maureen Coetzee, Silas Majambere

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) and indoor residual house spraying (IRS) are the main interventions for the control of malaria vectors in Zanzibar. The aim of the present study was to assess the susceptibility status of malaria vectors against the insecticides used for LLINs and IRS and to determine the durability and efficacy of LLINs on the island. METHODS: Mosquitoes were sampled from Pemba and Unguja islands in 2010--2011 for use in WHO susceptibility tests. One hundred and fifty LLINs were collected from households on Unguja, their physical state was recorded and then tested for efficacy as well as total insecticide content. RESULTS: Species identification revealed that over 90% of the Anopheles gambiae complex was An. arabiensis with a small number of An. gambiae s.s. and An. merus being present. Susceptibility tests showed that An. arabiensis on Pemba was resistant to the pyrethroids used for LLINs and IRS. Mosquitoes from Unguja Island, however, were fully susceptible to all pyrethroids tested. A physical examination of 150 LLINs showed that two thirds were damaged after only three years in use. All used nets had a significantly lower (p < 0.001) mean permethrin concentration of 791.6 mg/m2 compared with 944.2 mg/m2 for new ones. Their efficacy decreased significantly against both susceptible An. gambiae s.s. colony mosquitoes and wild-type mosquitoes from Pemba after just six washes (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The sustainability of the gains achieved in malaria control in Zanzibar is seriously threatened by the resistance of malaria vectors to pyrethroids and the short-lived efficacy of LLINs. This study has revealed that even in relatively well-resourced and logistically manageable places like Zanzibar, malaria elimination is going to be difficult to achieve with the current control measures.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 142 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 2 1%
Tanzania, United Republic of 1 <1%
Unknown 139 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 28 20%
Researcher 27 19%
Student > Ph. D. Student 16 11%
Other 9 6%
Student > Bachelor 7 5%
Other 24 17%
Unknown 31 22%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 32 23%
Medicine and Dentistry 30 21%
Nursing and Health Professions 8 6%
Social Sciences 6 4%
Immunology and Microbiology 5 4%
Other 25 18%
Unknown 36 25%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 59. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 November 2017.
All research outputs
#609,779
of 22,721,584 outputs
Outputs from Parasites & Vectors
#56
of 5,441 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,404
of 197,841 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Parasites & Vectors
#1
of 50 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,721,584 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,441 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 197,841 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 50 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.