2022: Aedes-borne Virus Control and Insecticide Resistance Along the Amazon River: Implications for Sustainability of Vector Control Tools and Health Equity
In the Peruvian Amazon, a dengue-endemic region, urban port cities are highly connected to remote rural villages via the fluvial transit routes that carry cargo throughout the region. Unfortunately, these boats often carry unwanted passengers – Aedes aegypti mosquitoes – an important vector of numerous pathogens, including the dengue virus. Advancing one health and improving mosquito control sustainability requires understanding this rural-urban system’s interconnectedness. To better understand the extent of mosquito movement at longer distances between port cities and remote Amazonian villages that experience inequitable healthcare access, researchers will collect Ae. Aegypti and conduct knowledge surveys in villages along the Amazon and Ucayali Rivers between the port cities of Iquitos and Pucallpa, Peru. Using this data, the team will assess the frequency of insecticide resistance genes and mosquito movement patterns. At the same time, they will determine the impact of health information access on human exposure to mosquitoes.
[This project received an Office of Engagement Initiatives supplemental grant.]
Investigators: Laura Harrington and Alex Nading