TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of passive and active ventilation on malaria mosquito house entry and human comfort: an experimental study in rural Gambia
AU - Carrasco-Tenezaca, Majo
AU - Jawara, Musa
AU - Lee, Daniel Sang-Hoon
AU - Holmes, MAtthew
AU - Ceesay, Sainey
AU - McCall, Phillip
AU - Pinder, Margaret
AU - D'Alessandro, Umberto
AU - Knudsen, Jakob Brandtberg
AU - Lindsay, Steve W.
AU - Wilson, Anne L.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Rural houses in sub-Saharan Africa are typically hot and allow malaria mosquitoes inside. We assessed whether passive or active ventilation can reduce house entry of malaria mosquitoes and cool a bedroom at night in rural Gambia. Two identical experimental houses were used: one ventilated and one unventilated (control). We evaluated the impact of (i) passive ventilation (solar chimney) and (ii) active ventilation (ceiling fan) on the number of mosquitoes collected indoors and environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, CO2, evaporation). Although the solar chimney did not reduce entry of Anopheles gambiae sensu lato, the ceiling fan reduced house entry by 91% compared with the control house. There were no differences in indoor nightly temperature, humidity or CO2 between intervention and control houses in either experiment. The solar chimney did not improve human comfort assessed using psychrometric analysis. While the ceiling fan improved human comfort pre-midnight, in the morning it was too cool compared with the control house, although this could be remedied through provision of blankets. Further improvements to the design of the solar chimney are needed. High air velocity in the ceiling fan house probably reduced mosquito house entry by preventing mosquito flight. Improved ventilation in houses may reduce malaria transmission.
AB - Rural houses in sub-Saharan Africa are typically hot and allow malaria mosquitoes inside. We assessed whether passive or active ventilation can reduce house entry of malaria mosquitoes and cool a bedroom at night in rural Gambia. Two identical experimental houses were used: one ventilated and one unventilated (control). We evaluated the impact of (i) passive ventilation (solar chimney) and (ii) active ventilation (ceiling fan) on the number of mosquitoes collected indoors and environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, CO2, evaporation). Although the solar chimney did not reduce entry of Anopheles gambiae sensu lato, the ceiling fan reduced house entry by 91% compared with the control house. There were no differences in indoor nightly temperature, humidity or CO2 between intervention and control houses in either experiment. The solar chimney did not improve human comfort assessed using psychrometric analysis. While the ceiling fan improved human comfort pre-midnight, in the morning it was too cool compared with the control house, although this could be remedied through provision of blankets. Further improvements to the design of the solar chimney are needed. High air velocity in the ceiling fan house probably reduced mosquito house entry by preventing mosquito flight. Improved ventilation in houses may reduce malaria transmission.
U2 - 10.1098/rsif.2022.0794
DO - 10.1098/rsif.2022.0794
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1742-5662
VL - 20/201
JO - Journal of The Royal Society Interface
JF - Journal of The Royal Society Interface
ER -