[Agricultural activities and epidemiology of malaria in Soudano-Sahelian zone in Cameroon].

We have comparatively studied the dynamics of malaria transmission in the villages of Mokolo-Douvar located in the rural area with traditional agriculture and Gounougou irrigated rice area, in 2004 August and November and 2006 May and October, to assess vectors biting habits, and malaria inoculation rate and malaria parasite prevalence in cohort of children from 0 to 15 years. Mosquitoes were collected by landing catches on volunteers and by pyrethrum spray collections. A total of 5961 Anopheles were collected. Seven Anopheles species were identified: Anopheles gambiae s.s., Anopheles arabiensis, Anopheles funestus, Anopheles pharoensis, Anopheles rufipes, Anopheles ziemanni and Anopheles squamosus. A. arabiensis was the major species (56.2%) and the main malaria vector in both study sites, followed by A. funestus (32.6%). Malaria transmission was high in the irrigated area of Gounougou (1.42 infection bites per man per night) whereas in the non-irrigated zone of Mokolo-Douvar, it was below detection level during the rainy season (0,245 ib/h/n). In Gounougou, a total of 655 children were examined. The mean plasmodic index was 21.1%. Our findings confirm that changes in irrigated rice agriculture influence malaria transmission dynamics, and call for control measures that are readily adapted to local eco-epidemiological settings.