Original Articles
Lijuan Liu, Benguang Zhang, Hu
Abstract
Animals play an important role in the host-seeking process of zoophilic and anthropophilic mosquito species. This article discusses existing information and analyzes the relationship between the ratio of man to livestock and malaria incidence, as well as a survey on the number and distribution of people and domestic animals serving as hosts. A correlation analysis was performed to assess the effect to domestic animals. The human blood index of Anopheles sinensis was found to be closely related to the space of livestock enclosures. Specifically, a negative correlation was found between the human blood index and the space of human rooms. Meanwhile, the human blood index was positively correlated with the space of livestock enclosures. A relationship between the ratio of man to livestock and malaria incidence was identified, the regression equation is linear, which is expressed as: y=-377.65+184.97x (correlation coefficient is 0.4997). The relationship between the ratio of man to pig and malaria incidence was more approximately linear, which is expressed as: y=-125.56+54.85x (correlation coefficient is 0.6305). This research has demonstrated the role of livestock in the control of malaria and in the reduction of vector density. Malaria incidence was influenced by the number of livestock and the position of barn in the areas with a predominant An. sinensis population.