The mosquito problem and type and costs of personal protection measures used in rural and urban communities in Pondicherry region, South India.

Personal protection measures have become an important tool against mosquito nuisance. The severity of mosquito nuisance and the type and costs of personal protection measures in the Pondicherry region in South India have been investigated, using a structured questionnaire. The number of respondents sampled was 300 in the urban area and 100 in rural areas. 87 and 63% of the urban and rural respondents, respectively, felt that mosquito nuisance was severe in their locality. 83% of the urban and 27% of the rural respondents are aware that mosquitoes transmit diseases and were able to name at least one mosquito-borne disease. All the neighbourhood shops in urban and a majority in rural areas stocked personal protection products. As many as 99.3 and 73% of the urban and rural respondents, respectively, were found to use personal-protection measures during some or all seasons of the year. Mosquito coils were the most widely used measure in both urban and rural areas, followed by vaporising mats in the former and electric fans in the latter areas. 48 and 40% in urban and rural areas, respectively, used personal-protection measures daily. In urban areas 46% used the measures in more than one room. Only a small proportion (3-14%) used bed nets. The average monthly expenditure on the measures was Rupees (Rs.) 62.17 (US$ 1.30) (range: Rs. 0.00-500.00) in urban areas and Rs. 8.03 (US$ 0.17) (range Rs. 0.00-45.00) in rural areas. Annual expenditure on personal protection measures in urban areas amounted to 0.63% of the per capita income. 73.7% of the respondents in urban areas expressed satisfaction with the protective effect of the measures used by them. However, 46.3% of the urban and 15% of the rural respondents felt that the personal-protection measures are harmful to health. Some of the perceived harmful effects are allergy, breathing problems, cough and head ache.