Surveillance of Mosquitoes and Arbovirus Infection at the Ross River Dam (Stage 1), Australia
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Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association,9(4):389-399, 1993 Copyright @ 1993 by the American Mosquito Control Association, Inc. SURVEILLANCE OF MOSQUITOES AND ARBOVIRUS INFECTION AT THE ROSS RIVER DAM (STAGE 1), AUSTRALIA P. BARKER-HUDSON,T B. H. KAY', R. E. JONES,3I- D. FANNING2 AI'roL' D' SMYTHE4 ABSTRACT. This paper describes the temporal and spatial abundance of the mosquito fauna of the Ross River Dam (Stagel) in northern Queensland,Australia. Culex annulirostis, Anophelesannulipes s.1.,Mansonia uniformis, Mansonia septempunctata,and the nondam breeding Aedes vigilax were the major speciescollected by dry ice-supplementedlight traps set at various distancesfrom the edgeofthe reservoir. To estimatethe level ofarbovirus activity in thesedifferent zones,sentinel chicken flocks were bled 4 times a year and their antibody conversion rates determined by the hemaeglutination-inhibition test. Although mosquito abundanceat sites close to the reservoir were 1.5-6.1 times higher than at the more distani sites, arbovirus conversion rates, particularly to the alphaviruses Ross River and Sindbis, varied according to zone and year, suggestingthat risk ofinfection was no greater around the dam than elsewhere. INTRODUCTION et al. ( I 990) were able to relate light trap returns to the activity of western equine encephalomy- In a previous article (Kay et al. 1990), we elitis and St. Louis encephalitis viruses. Trap pointed out that Australia is fortunate in lacking counts of Culex tarsalis Coq. were then used as widespread and serious vector-borne diseases, a basis for implementing control. although the alphavirusesRoss River (RR) and As the costs of surveillance systemsincrease Barmah Forest (BF), and flaviviruses Murray with their complexity, our basic approach to- Valley encephalitis(MVE), Kunjin (KUN), Ko- wards designingsuch a system was first through kobera (KOK), and dengue(DEN) causeclinical detailed understanding of spatial and temporal infection. In that paper we also described the trends ofvector populations and second,through Ross River Dam (19"26'5, 146o45'E)near association of those populations to arbovirus Townsville, north and indicated that Queensland, transmission.The potential elucidation ofa sim- mosquito and arbovirus activity was high in its plistic management tool based solely on abun- vicinity. Our present submission analyzesthose dance has advantagesover those which out of data further by examining the spatial and tem- necessityinclude other epidemiological consid- poral abundance of the mosquitoes, especially erations. those of public health importance, in relation to arbovirus activity at different distancesaway from the dam. MATERIALS AND METHODS In relation to surveillancemethodologies, our Study area: The Ross River Dam (Stage l) basic hypothesisrelates to mosquito abundance was constructedin 1973with an augmentedstor- as a reliable indicator of arbovirus transmission. age capacity of 109,000 megaliters and at full Bunnag et al. (l 979) found that anophelinesand supply level inundates approximately 3,000 ha. malaria prevalenceincreased with the construc- Details of the dam have been given by Kay et tion ofthe SrinagarindDam in westernThailand. al. (1990).In 1987-88,proposed works for en- In his concise review, Eldridge (1987) pointed largement to Stage 2a were completed, which out that measuresof mosquito abundancealone increased the storage capacity to 236,000 me- generally poor indicators have been ofarbovirus galiters. epidemics,but nevertheless,in California, Reeves Weekly recordingsof the level of water at the spillway, and monthly calculations of the amount of water stored in the dam, were maintained by tP. O. Box 42828, Casuarina,Darwin, Northern the Townsville City Council, and meteorological Territory 0810 Australia (formerly Vector Control Unit, data were recordedat JamesCook University, 2 QueenslandHealth). km away from the dam. 2 QueenslandInstitute of Medical Research,P. O. Mosquito sampling: Adult mosquitoes were Royal BrisbaneHospital, Brisbane4029 Australia (for- sampled with Encephalitis Virus Surveillance merly Director, Vector Control Unit, Queensland (EVS) light traps baited with dry ice (Rohe and Health). Fall 1979), modified by the addition of a pho- 3 Department of Zoology, JamesCook University of tosensitive switching device to turn the traps on North QueenslandP. O., Townsville 4811 Australia. a Laboratory of Microbiology and Pathology, and offat dusk and dawn. A bafle was installed QueenslandHealth, 63-76 GeorgeStreet, Brisbane 4000 between the fan unit and the collection bag to Australia. prevent the escapeof collectedmosquitoes when 389 390 Jounxer or tnE Arvrrrrcln Mosqurto Cowrnol Assocr,uroN Vor. 9, No.4 the light trap switched off. Traps were suspended crobiology and Pathology, QueenslandHealth, I m above the ground in shadedareas and op- Brisbane, for testing by the hemagglutination- erated for 2 consecutive nights per week from inhibition (HI) test, using a modified Clarke and January 1984to April 1985.From May 1985to Casals( I 958) procedure.Ether was deletedfrom September 1985, trapping frequency was re- the extraction procedure and acetone-extracted ducedto one night per weekfor 3 wk and 2 nights gooseerythrocyte adsorbedsera was used. per week for the other week. Ross River, Sindbis, Murray Valley enceph- Seven EVS trap sites for mosquito sampling alitis, and Getah hemagglutinationantigens were were selectedto represent3 distinct zones: preparedin sucklingmice usingsucrose acetone extraction procedures.Flavivirus l) Znne l, adjacent to the Stage I shoreline (3 antigenswere preparedinitially using procedure, trap sites). Two sites were chosen along the the above but were later prepared in C6/36 cell culture fluid northern shoreline(Big Bay, Ti-Tree Bay) and which was precipitated with polyethyleneglycol one on the easternshoreline (Round Island). and resuspendedin borate salinebuffer (pH The 3 sites were vegetatively similar, being 9.0). Virus was identified when dominated by open eucalypt woodlands with titers were at least 4-fold higher than other group reactors,or when ti-trees (Melaleuca species)also common in it was the sole reaction. the wetter soils, at the wetter end of slopes Analysis: All mosquito counts were trans- (Round Island), and in broad drainage de- pressions. formed to log(count + l) to stabilizethe variance in formal analyses,and all statistical analyses 2) Zolre 2, about 2 km from the shoreline(2trap werecarried out usingSAS Institute (1988)pro- sites,at Oak Valley and Toonpan).These were cedures.Three main setsof analyseswere carried sited close to the proposed shoreline of Stage out to examine the behavior of mosquito pop- 2 of the dam, thus providing baselinedata of ulations. future monitoring. Both comprised open woodland, interspersedwith the introduced l) To compare the speciescomposition of the shrub Zizyphus mauritania, and with open total catch at each trap location, cluster anal- areascleared ofvegetation for rural residen- yseswere used, with the data transformed to (Oak tial development Valley) or grazing standard scoreswith mean 0 and variance l. (Toonpan). The results presented use average linkage 3) Zone 3, about 4 km from the shoreline(2trap cluster analysis, but the same clustering se- sites, Kelso and Stanley). These 2 localities quenceswere obtained using alternative pro- will still be at some distance from the dam cedures (centroid, flexible beta, complete after the Stage2 expansion.As with tll'eTane linkage). 2 sites, Kelso and Stanley had been cleared 2) To examine the extent to which mosquito grazing, for residential development and for abundanceat different sitescovaried through respectively. Trapping did not begin until the sample period, Pearson'scorrelation co- April 1984at Stanley. efficientswere calculated for eachpair of sites, Sentinel chickenflocks and virus sumeillance: usingas data points the I I 5-l 49 separatecol- Sevenflocks eachof lG-30 chickenswere main- lections made at each site. These correlation tained within Zone | (Big Bay, Round Island), coefficients were calculated for the 4 most Zone2 (Oak Valley,Toonpan), and Zone 3 (Kel- common speciesbreeding at the reservoir,and so, Stanley) with a supplementary flock being also for Aedesrigllax (Skuse),which doesnot held at Pallarenda(an area I 5 km to the northeast breed at the reservoir. BecauseAe. vigilax is bordering coastalsaltmarsh, and here labelled as a coastal saltmarsh speciesthat hatchessyn- Znne 4). EachNovember, priorto the wet season, chronously in responseto tidal cycles,all in- which was recognizedas the probable period of dividuals of this speciesthat dispersedto the greatest arbovirus activity, antibody-positive dam environs were probably derived from a chickens were discarded and flocks replenished common source. We would therefore expect with nonimmunme birds. Chickens were bled that its abundancewould vary in similar ways from the wing vein 3 or 4 times per year: usually at all sites,and hencethat correlationsamong in mid-wet season(February-March), and at the all trapping sites would be uniformly high. end of the wet season(April-May) to define this Similarly, freshwater-breeding species de- activity and once thereafter until November. A rived from sites subject to the sameenviron- flock was maintained at each of the 6 sites from mental influencesshould similarly show high November 1983to June 1987.Sampling at the correlations.Conversely, a low correlation for 7th site, Pallarenda,was terminated in February a particular pair of