Article Summary
The article “ Anopheles stephensi Mosquitoes as Vectors of Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum, Horn of Africa” by Chali et al. (2019) compared the susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum and Vivax infection between the An. stephensi and An. arabiensis mosquitoes. The study was conducted in the Awash Sebat Kilo region found in Ethiopia because of its high perennial malaria transmission. An experiment was conducted to establish the difference in infection status between the two species of mosquitoes. Adult An. stephensi and An. arabiensis mosquitoes reared from immature mosquitoes were fed from membrane feeders with fresh blood from the patients attending the Adama clinic. The feeding was done with blood infected with P. vivax and P. falciparum for 7 to 12 days. The mosquitoes’ midgets and salivary glands were dissected to examine the oocysts and sporozoites, respectively. A comparison of the infection status was done using logistic regression analysis. The differences in mosquito sources’ infectivity were examined using the Pitman test. Data analysis was done using the STATA version 13 and GraphPad Prism 5.3.
From the 85 aquatic habitats surveyed in the study, 75.3% of the larvae detected were from An. stephensi mosquitoes. The general proportion of blood-fed mosquitoes was higher for An. arabiensis (median 80.5%) than An. stephensi (median 53.5%, p<0.001) (Chali et al., 2019). However, the latter species reported a significantly higher infection with P. vivax (median 75.1%) compared to the former species (median 58.4%, p<0.042). An. stephensi mosquitoes showed higher odds of infection for an individual mosquito (OR=1.99, p<0.001) and higher numbers of oocysts per infected midgut (median 17) than the counterpart species (median 13, p<0.001). Also, a higher proportion of An. stephensi (51.8%) had a high sporozoite load and odds of detecting high sporozoite intensity from the salivary glands compared to An. arabiensis (31.1%). It was evident from the study that An. stephensi poses a higher risk for increased P. falciparum and P. vivax in Ethiopia compared to An. arabiensis .
Article Critique
Strengths
The findings in this study contribute immensely to the control of malaria transmission in Ethiopia and Africa. The article has a brief abstract to provide a succinct summary of the content of the study. The introduction part of the article provides a firm sense of what the study is about and develops the background of the research. The study has a clearly stated research design that explains the materials and procedure used. The analysis and results section contains enough details for readers to understand. The use of table and graphs provide a clear representation of the results. The implication of the research results is adequately evaluated, and interpretation is efficient o address the research problem. The concluding section highlights the main points and provides some recommendations based on the research. The study has a wide range of clearly cited works with fully provided bibliographic details.
Weaknesses
The article’s title does not state all the variables examined and the relationships between them. The study establishes the difference in infection of Plasmodium falciparum and vivax between the An. stephensi and An. arabiensis . However, the title and abstract of the study do not mention the Anopheles arabiensis . The article lacks keywords to help identify the main areas of the study. The study lacks a literature review to illustrate how the researchfits into the existing research framework. The study does not clearly state the aim and rationale of the research.
Significance of the Findings to the General Population
Health research plays a crucial role in promoting the wellbeing of the general population and society. Malaria prevalence in Africa remains a huge health concern that has a significant medical, social, and economic impact. The findings in this study provide insight into the infection status of P. vivax and P. falciparum and the transmission rate between the An. stephensi and An. arabiensis mosquitoes. This study indicates the risk factors of malaria within the local population of Ethiopia. These risk factors are generalizable to the African population. These findings will play a significant role in informing the effective malaria control strategies required to lower the rate of malaria transmission. The findings are critical for the establishment of treatment and diagnostic policies aimed at reducing the mortality and morbidity associated with malaria transmission by the Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes.
This research is critical to the World Health Organization and other organizations involved in the control and management of diseases. The findings can be used to develop more sensitive diagnostic tools that can help promote early detection and treatment of malaria infection among patients. As a result, adequate healthcare will be provided to those infected; thus, lowering the death rates. It is through these findings that effective countermeasures can be devised and deployed in different parts of Ethiopia and Africa. The findings can be used to provide public health awareness to populations in these regions. Eliminating aquatic water sources that promote the breeding of Anopheles mosquitoes will help the larger population contribute towards fight again malaria transmission. The application of the findings in this research can provide a remarkable improvement in health care and public health. Consequently, the adoption of health measures and control programs to lower malaria transmission has an enormous impact on human health, resulting in increased productivity of the population.