Background: The human biting rate MBR and entomological inoculation rate EIR are common parameters routinely used to measure the risk of malaria transmission. Both parameters can be estimated using human landing catches HLC. Although it is considered the gold-standard, HLC puts collectors at higher risk of infection with mosquito-transmitted pathogens. Field experiments were performed in Massavasse village, southern Mozambique.
Simultaneous indoor and outdoor collections of nocturnal host-seeking mosquitoes were carried out using the SHK and HLC methods. Results: A total of 69, and 27, host-seeking mosquitoes comprising nineteen species and four genera, were collected by HLC and SHK respectively. The relative sampling efficiency and proportionality between SHK and matched HLC catches varied greatly between species and collection site.
Conclusions: Results demonstrate that SHK is a safe and reliable human-exposure free device for monitoring the occurrence of a wide range of mosquito, including major malaria and arboviruses vector species. However, improvements are needed to increase its sampling efficiency for less abundant mosquito species. This biting exposure is still determined using the human landing catch HLC , a method first introduced in the s 1 , but that continues to be widely used and accepted as the gold standard method for measuring biting exposure.
A simple procedure requiring minimal equipment, HLC also provides a reliable method for measuring diurnal patterns of vector activity, and for identifying body regions most frequently contacted or preferentially bitten by a particular species 2.
(mh=-jCzutO6gXvrkCUf)12.jpg "Babes in Killeen")
Collectors may face a higher risk of disease transmission by the mosquitoes being studied or by other species, particularly the mosquito vectors of arboviruses against which there are no effective vaccines, like dengue, Zika and chikungunya. This may not always be true, because, at least in some circumstances, there is good evidence that, with malaria, there is negligible risk to HLC collectors 7 , 8.
