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A study on bancroftian filariasis in Jakarta has indicated that one person in one year could be exposed to 223,000 bites of Culex pipens fatigans and to 1,941 infective-stage larvae of Wuchereria bancrofti. Blood surveys with 20 mm3 samples revealed a microfilaria rate of 6%. Although some cases of hydrocele (4% of 272 males examined) were found, there was little evidence of severe filarial disease in either males or females. Amongst wild-caught mosquitoes only 0.3% contained infective larvae, but much higher levels of vectorial competence were established under laboratory conditions. High daily vector mortality (30%) coupled with noticeable improvements in standards of living could have been important factors preventing an increase in endemicity.

In preparation for a Filariasis Control programme in Samoa, during 1978 monthly larval surveys of the vector mosquito Aedes polynesiensis were carried out in four study villages in the main island of Upolu. A more extensive survey of larval habitat distribution was then made in twenty-two villages of Upolu and eighteen of Savai'i island, to determine the importance of habitat types according to their abundance, volume of water and whether their productivity was permanent or seasonal. Ae.aegypti larval densities and habitat distribution were also monitored and the occurrence of predatory Toxorhynchites amboinensis larvae in northern Upolu was recorded from forty-one collections. Aedes Breteau and container indices fluctuated with the pattern of rainfall in two coastal villages and an inland bush village, but not in a coconut plantation community. The five main Aedes larval habitat types encountered were: 200 litre water-storage drums, discarded tins and bottles, coconut shells, automobile tyres and treeholes. Aedes immatures occurred perennially in drums and tree holes, but breeding discontinued in tins, bottles and coconut shells during the driest month of July. For Ae. polynesiensis in Upolu the Breteau and container indices of 104.5 +/- SD 80.9 and 35.3 +/- 12.4 respectively were significantly higher than those in Savai'i: 33.1 +/- 25.0 and 24.3 +/- 20.0 respectively. Likewise for Ae.aegypti the Breteau and container indices of 50.8 +/- 32.5 and 23.9 +/- 15.6, respectively, were also significantly higher than those in Savai'i: 12.7 +/- 17.1 and 9.4 +/- 13.2 respectively. Habitat types greater or lesser importance were determined by plotting the percentage of each type of cotnainer utilized for Aedes breeding against the percentage of ech type amongst all larva-positive containers. Ae.polynesiensis preferred tree-holes but not water-storage drums. Ae.aegypti preferred drums and tyres; mixed populations of larvae of both species were commonest in these two types of habitat. Ae.polynesiensis occurred in every village. Ae.aegypti was encountered in all twenty-two villages surveyed in Upolu and nine of eighteen villages in Savai'i. Total larval surveys revealed that drums and tree-holes contained the highest numbers of Aedes larvae. The study provided criteria for planning a control programme.

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