Anopheles gambiae s.l. and Anopheles funestus Mosquito Distributions at 30 Villages along the Kenyan Coast

This study investigated whether Anopheles gambiae s.l. and Anopheles funestus Giles mosquito populations were distributed randomly among houses on the coast of Kenya. Sample means and variances of mosquitoes were estimated from bimonthly pyrethrum spray collections at 30 villages from July 1997 through May 1998. In total, 5,476 An. gambiae s.l. and 3,461 An. funestus were collected. The number of An. gambiae s.l. collected was highest in November/December and lowest in May. The number of An. funestus collected was highest during September/October and lowest during May. As the density of mosquitoes decreased, there was a tendency toward randomness in the distribution. The proportion of An. gambiae s.l. and An. funestus mosquitoes collected per house for each sampling period also showed patterns of clustering, with 80% of An. gambiae s.l. collected from <30% of the houses and 80% of An. funestus collected from <20% of the total houses. The total number of mosquitoes collected from any one house ranged from 0 to 121 for An. gambiae s.l. and from 0 to 152 for An. funestus. This coupled with the results of the variance to mean ratio plots suggests extensive clustering in the distribution of An. gambiae s.l. and An. funestus mosquito populations throughout the year along the coast of Kenya.