Difference in mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) and the transmission of Ross River Virus between coastline and inland areas in Brisbane, Australia

This study examined the distribution of major mosquito species and their roles in the transmission of Ross River virus (RRV) infection for coastline and inland areas in Brisbane, Australia (27°28′ S, 153°2′ E). We obtained data on the monthly counts of RRV cases in Brisbane between November 1998 and December 2001 by statistical local areas from the Queensland Department of Health and the monthly mosquito abundance from the Brisbane City Council. Correlation analysis was used to assess the pairwise relationships between mosquito density and the incidence of RRV disease. This study showed that the mosquito abundance of Aedes vigilax (Skuse), Culex annulirostris (Skuse), and Aedes vittiger (Skuse) were significantly associated with the monthly incidence of RRV in the coastline area, whereas Aedes vigilax, Culex annulirostris, and Aedes notoscriptus (Skuse) were significantly associated with the monthly incidence of RRV in the inland area. The results of the classification and regression tree (CART) analysis show that both occurrence and incidence of RRV were influenced by interactions between species in both coastal and inland regions. We found that there was an 89% chance for an occurrence of RRV if the abundance of Ae. vigifax was between 64 and 90 in the coastline region. There was an 80% chance for an occurrence of RRV if the density of Cx. annulirostris was between 53 and 74 in the inland area. The results of this study may have applications as a decision support tool in planning disease control of RRV and other mosquito-borne diseases.