Asia is a net exporter of mosquitoes to Africa, if report by a group of researchers on the nature of the invasive anopheles stephensi species is anything to go by.
According to their report seen by APA, some 125 million Africans are at risk of contracting malaria from this species of mosquitoes which have invaded the continent from Asian nations such as India where they are found in urban gutters.
They have developed a resistant to insect killing sprays and live and multiply in drainage systems and water pipes around cities in India and Iran.
Their presence in Africa first noted some ten years ago could pose more challenges to control malaria on the continent, according to scientists.
Malaria is a huge killer in Africa, accounting for millions of fatalities every year especially in rural communities where antidotes against the spread of mosquitoes are not readily available.
The researchers say they have evidence that the marauding mosquitoes were behind recent malarial cases in East Africa especially in Ethiopia, Somalia and to some extent in neighbouring Djibouti where this species of mosquito was first discovered ten years ago.
The same species, which spread malaria in Asian cities has also been discovered in some West African countries most notably Nigeria.
Since 2020 when a model research was conducted of mosquitoes of the Anopheles stephensi species, it was concluded that an invasion by them in Africa may leave at least 50 urban centres at risk of a collosal continent-wide malaria outbreak.
WN/as/APA