Effectiveness of Print Education at Reducing Urban Mosquito Infestation through Improved Resident-Based Management

Abstract

Improving resident-based management and knowledge of mosquitoes is often an integral component of integrated mosquito management, especially in urban landscapes with considerable mosquito habitat on privately owned lands. This study tested the effectiveness of print education materials at reducing urban mosquito exposure through improving resident knowledge of, and attitudes towards, mosquitoes and mosquito management in Washington DC, USA. There was a specific focus on the removal of water-filled containers that are utilized by the developmental stages of the two most common vector species in the region, Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens. Households in six neighborhoods that varied in socio-economic status were administered knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) surveys in 2010 and 2012, and had their yards surveyed for container habitats and immature mosquitoes (larvae and pupae) in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Half the households (intervention, n = 120) received education materials in 2011 and 2012 to yield a before-after control-intervention (BACI) design. Unexpectedly, residents in intervention households were more likely to show decreased concern for mosquito-borne illnesses than residents in control households, which did not receive materials. Moreover, there was a greater probability that control households reduced containers in 2012 than intervention households, particularly when they had low numbers of baseline (2010) containers. Irrespective of control, reductions in containers were associated with decreased abundances of immature mosquitoes. Overall, our findings suggest that print education materials may have unintended negative effects on resident attitudes and household management of mosquito production. We recommend that mosquito control agencies need to carefully consider their content of print messages and the effectiveness of strategies that passively convey information with little or no engagement with control professionals.

The State of the Art of Lethal Oviposition Trap-Based Mass Interventions for Arboviral Control

“…Of note, in temperate regions, where with some exceptions [17,18] Aedes -vectored viruses are still a worry and not a panic, public health campaigns employ residents to empty or remove any water-holding containers from their yards [19]. Even when such advice is supported by information campaigns, however, there has been a lack of entomological data showing that residents on their own can significantly reduce Aedes habitat from their properties [20], but see [21]. More importantly, however, there has been scarce evidence that targeting just immature stages has a real impact on adult populations [22], possibly because there is such high baseline immature mortality due to the transient nature of the small containers exploited by invasive Aedes [23] and density-dependent regulation due to limited food in containers [24].…”

Reducing Aedes albopictus breeding sites through education: a study in urban area

“…Given the fact that private areas are inaccessible to prefecture’s control measures and intense chemical control efforts are of low efficacy, resident-based management (i.e. breeding source reduction) is considered a most effective and affordable mean for controlling of mosquitoes [10–11].…”

“…In many cases, educational programs have indeed resulted in an important impact in container habitat reduction [12,14]. Education campaigns focus on increasing public participation and awareness on source reduction, however it remains uncertain whether this education is actually accompanied by mosquito population reduction [15–17,11].…”

“Looking over the Backyard Fence”: Householders and Mosquito Control

“…This information can then be used to design effective public health education programs. Bodner [11] argues that backyards are “private spaces”, and public health intervention directed at mosquito breeding in these areas is generally restricted to the deployment of public health education campaigns. In the study location, mosquito management in open space, including the river foreshore, is the responsibility of the Local Government; however, the local health laws require the residents to keep premises “free of mosquito breeding matter” [12].…”