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Dans les études de dynamique de population des glossines, vecteurs des trypanosomoses en Afrique, la taille de l'insecte peut être mise en relation avec leur longévité et leur capacité vectorielle. La taille des individus est généralement appréciée par la mesure de nervures remarquables de l'aile. Un logiciel semi-automatique a été développé par le Cirad et l'IRD pour réaliser une série de mesures à partir de photos numérisées des ailes. Il a été utilisé sur des populations sauvages de Glossina tachinoides Westwood et G. palpalis gambiensis Vanderplank (Diptera : Glossinidae) capturées autour de Bobo Dioulasso, au Burkina Faso. A partir d'une photo de l'aile, réalisée sous une loupe binoculaire et numérisée, le logiciel calcule la longueur des segments alaires, le rapport entre ces segments, la surface de la cellule "en hache" caractéristique des glossines et le niveau de gris de la membrane. Ces variables ont révélé leur intérêt taxonomique pour la diagnose entre ces espèces, mais également apportent des informations sur les caractéristiques physiologiques de la population étudiée.

The size of tsetse flies is often associated with population dynamics and vectorial capacity parameters. Adult fly size is generally estimated from measurements of wing segments. To take measure of the wing, a semi-automatic software was developed by CIRAD-EMVT and IRD. It was used in wild populations of Glossina tachinoides Westwood and G. palpalis gambiensis Vanderplank (Diptera: Glossinidae) trapped near Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. From an numeric picture of the wing, the software calculates the length of vein segments, the ratios between these lengths, the surface of the tsetse characteristic "hatchet cell", and the greyness on the wings. The data were interesting at the level of taxonomy. In addition, they help specify physiological characteristics of the studied populations.

A survey in Cameroon compared the usefulness of the circumsporozoite protein enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (CSP ELISA) to dissection and microscopic examination of anopheline salivary glands for measuring infectivity rates in anopheline mosquitoes. The salivary glands of 375 females, belonging to four species were examined for sporozoites. After microscopic examination, the glands as well as all the remaining heads and thoraces were tested by ELISA. The sensitivity of ELISA was 100% (18/18), confidence interval (CI) (78.1-100) and the specificity was 99.7% (357/358), CI (98.2 100). The Kappa value, agreement between examination of the glands and salivary gland ELISA, was 0.97. The head thorax CSP ELISA overestimated the true salivary gland infection rate by 12.0%. The results obtained in Central Africa in a village with perennial transmission highly justified the use of the ELISA for measuring the entomological inoculation rate.

Human infectiousness to mosquitoes can be estimated by 2 tests: direct feeding on the skin and membrane feeding on venous blood. To validate the membrane feeding assay, the infectiousness of Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriers to Anopheles gambiae was estimated by these 2 methods in the same individuals in a rural area of Cameroon. Results from 37 experiments showed that direct feeding gave significantly higher infection rates than membrane feeding. We observed an average of 19.4% infected mosquitoes by direct feeding compared with 12.1% by membrane feeding, and a mean oocyst load of 5.63 by direct feeding compared with 2.65 by membrane feeding. However, there was a very good concordance between the 2 tests: 84.3% with the Kappa test on percentages of infected mosquitoes and 98.7% with the interclass correlation coefficient on oocyst loads. In addition, we found a good linear correlation between the 2 methods.

In order to describe malaria transmission in a future antigamete vaccine trial area, a longitudinal entomological study was conducted, together with parasitological and immunological surveys, from June 1997 to May 1998 in two nearby villages in a tropical rain forest area 100 km east of Yaoundé. Koundou is located along the main road in an open and degraded environment combining cultivated lands and forests; Ebolakounou is located 5 km from the road in forest surroundings. Indoor mosquito night catches no human volunteers were performed twice a month, in ten houses. We determined the entomological infection rate as 176 infected bites per human per year in Koundou (47.7% for An. moucheti, 47.3% for An. gambiae and 5% for An. funestus) and only 17.7 infected bites/human/year in Ebolakounou, with An. gambiae only. Transmission appears to be ten times higher in the village situated in a degraded environment than in the village situated in the rainforest.

Studies on the susceptibility of Anopheles gambiae to insecticides were carried out in rice field areas of Côte-d'Ivoire. An. gambiae larvae populations from Côte-d'Ivoire were resistant to DDT but susceptible to organophosphorous insecticides. Adult populations from the surroundings of Bouake were resistant to DDT and permethrin. Resistance to propoxur was strongly suspected. The knock-down effect of both deltamethrin and lambdacyhalothrin was delayed and strongly decreased. The control strain from Bobo-Dioulasso and populations from rice fields of Katiola located far from the city were still susceptible to the three pyrethroids. It is likely that resistance to pyrethroids in Bouake has been promoted by the intensive use of domestic aerosol sprays.

Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Ivory Coast. This fact justifies further epidemiological investigations to define regional features and allow implementation of the most suitable control measures. To this end, a study focusing on transmission of malaria was conducted between January and May 1993 concurrently with malarial parasite identification in Allokoukro, a village in the humid savannah in the central region of Ivory Coast. Two vectors of malaria were found in the village, i.e. Anopheles gambiae s.l. and Anopheles funestus. These two species accounted for 53.7% of Culicides captured during the study with important monthly variations depending on rainfall. Anopheles gambiae s.l. accounted for 92.2% of the anopheles captured and thus was the main vector identified in the village. As a result of its persistence and high density, this species ensured uninterrupted transmission of malaria. Anopheles funestus was scarce and thus played a limited role in infection at the beginning of the rainy season. Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium malariae were the main parasite species identified in the population of the village. The incidence of malarial infection was high in children between the ages of 0 and 14 years. Plasmodium indices stood at 45.5% in March and 82.2% in May. The prevalence of malarial infection in may was associated with an increase in mean serum parasite levels in children. Clinical studies showed that malaria motivated 64.4% of consultations during the rainy season and was one of the mean causes of morbidity in particular among children.