The transportation of mosquitos between international airports.

334 NOTES Aedes aegypti was found in holes at heights ranging from 1 foot to about 30 feet (i.e., about 30 cm to about 9 m). Further, 3 holes in 3 different mango trees in Vellore City were studied more intensively with a view to seeing whether the larvae found there would complete their development successfully. In 2 of these holes, pupae of the species were found on several occasions. In one, in particular, in which searches were made daily except on Sundays between 8 August and 9 September, 187 pupae ofAedes aegypti and 11 pupae of Aedes albopictus were found. The adult Aedes aegypti reared from the tree-holes were mainly of the type form, but var. queenslandensis was not infrequent. The skin colour was brown. In 2 casual test collections in tree holes in gulmohar trees made in Madras City in October, one yielded 2 specimens of Aedes aegypti and 45 of Aedes albopictus, and the other 221 of Aedes aegypti and 19 of Aedes albopictus. These observations would suggest that the breeding of Aedes aegypti now noted in the tree-holes in southern India is not just a casual occurrence. It is too early to say whether the observations recorded here are a new and unusual feature of Aedes aegypti behaviour in southern India or whether the surveys carried out for the distribution of this species in India in the past have not been adequate to bring out this aspect of the behaviour. Further intensive studies are planned all over southern India. These findings are of considerable interest not only to workers on Aedes aegypti who are trying to understand the differences in the genetical make-up of Aedes aegypti in South-East Asia and East Africa associated with differing breeding habits but also to epidemiologists who are concerned with the dis- tribution and habits of the species in relation to the urgent problems of dengue haemorrhagic fever and chikungunya virus outbreaks in South-East Asia. REFERENCES Barraud, P. J. (1934) The Fauna ofBritish India, including Ceylon and Burma. Diptera, Vol. V. Family Culicidae. Tribes Megarhini and Culicini, London, Taylor and Francis Carey, D. E., Myers, R. M., Reuben, R. & Rodrigues, F. M. (1966) Amer. J. trop. Med. Hyg., 15, 580-587 Christophers, S. R. (1960) Aedes aegypti (L), the yellow fever mosquito; its life history, bionomics and structure, London, Cambridge University Press Gilotra, S. K., Roseboom, L. E. & Bhattacharya, N. C. (1967) Bull. Wld Hlth Org., 37, 437-446 Horsfall, W. R. (1955) Mosquitoes: their bionomics and relationship to disease, London, Constable Kalra, N. L. (1965) Bull. Indian Soc. Malar., 2, 101-115 Macdonald, W. W. (1956) Ann. trop. med. Parasit., 50, 399-414 Reuben, R. (1967) Indian J. med. Res., 55, 1-12 Scanlon, J. E. (1967) Jap. J. med. Sci. Biol., 20, 108 The Transportation of Mosquitos between International Airports by R. B. HIGHTON' & E. C. C. VAN SOMEREN1 A detailed account of the invasion of Anopheles gambiae into north-east Brazil and its final elimina- tion between the years 1930 and 1940 has been given by Soper & Wilson (1943). These workers, realizing the potential threat of An. gambiae being reimported from Africa by aircraft and ships, advocated a strict disinsection programme. In the period 1941-42, 7 An. gambiae were recovered from planes arriving from Africa. Recently, larvae of Culex cinerellus Edw., an African mosquito, and Aedes aegypti (L.) were reportedly found in an aircraft arriving in Kansas, USA, from overseas (Pippin, Thompson & Wilson, 1968). The larvae were found in a pool of ' Entomologist, Division of Insect-borne Diseases, Min- istry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya. water on a tarpaulin sheet used to cover cargo which had been picked up in Liberia. Symes, as early as 1933, showed concern about the transportation of mosquitos between the countries of Africa and records the collection of An. gambiae adults from aircraft arriving at Kisumu, Kenya, from Juba, Sudan, and Entebbe, Uganda (Symes, 1935). Appreciating the potential danger of the spread of yellow fever, Symes initiated the disinsec- tion of all aircraft and the adoption of elaborate measures against Ae. aegypti in Kenya (Symes, 1947). Nowadays, the spraying of aircraft to kill insects seems rarely to be carried out but anti- Ae. aegypti measures are still practised at all international airports in Kenya. 2474c TRANSPORTATION OF MOSQUITOS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS 335 Since the early 1930s, the speed of air transport has increased very considerably and the danger of transporting living insects between countries or continents is now greater than ever before. With the introduction of even faster aircraft the opportunities for the transportation of insects between continents will be very great indeed. In March 1968, the port health authorities at Nairobi Airport, Kenya, commenced limited adult mosquito searches in aircraft arriving in Nairobi from West Africa, Ethiopia, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent. These studies were later extended to include aircraft from the Far East and a few from Europe. As soon as aircraft were stationary and the doors and hatches open, searchers, equipped with torches and collecting tubes for adult mosquitos, entered the aircraft. The passenger cabin, toilets, control cabin and freight compartments were all examined. In the period from March to April, 1968, 27 air- craft belonging to 6 airlines were searched and some 150 adult mosquitos were captured, the greatest number from any one aircraft being 20. The species collected include: An. gambiae Giles (1 male, 2 females); C. pipiens fatigans Wied. (33 males, 95 females); C. pipiens L. (7 males, 1 female); C. antennatus (Beck.) (1 male, 1 female); C. theileri Theo. (1 male, 1 female); Ae. hirsutus Theo. (1 fe- male); Ae. lineatopennis (Ludl.) (1 male, 1 female); Ae. cumminsi Theo. (1 male, 1 female); Ae. dentatus (Theo.) (1 male, 1 female); Mansonia uniformis (Theo.) (1 male, 2 females). The An. gambiae were recovered from 2 separate aircraft; the plane with 2 females arrived from Mombasa and the plane carrying the male specimen came from Bombay, having stopped at Aden before reaching Nairobi. During the previous 48 hours the movement of the first carrier was confined to flights between airports in East and Central Africa. The second carrier moved between the same airports as the first but went on to land at Aden and Karachi and stopped overnight at Bombay. In addition, C. p. fatigans was found in 23 planes coming from airports outside Kenya. The second series of studies commenced late in November 1968 and continued until July 1969; 65 aircraft belonging to 9 airlines were searched. The following mosquitos were recorded: An. gambiae Giles (1 male, 3 females); C. p. fatigans Wied. (44 males, 265 females); C. pipiens L. (5 males, 7 females); C. univittatus Theo. (2 males, I female); C. antennatus Beck. (1 male, 1 female); Ae. lineato- pennis (Ludl.) (1 male, 1 female); Ae. sollicitans (Walker) (1 male, 1 female); M. uniformis (Theo.) (1 male, 3 females); Culiseta annulata (Schrank) (1 male, 1 female). Other Diptera include chao- borids, chironomids and muscids. The An. gambiae were found in planes operating between airports within the East African area and the single specimen of C. annulata in an aircraft that commenced its flight at London, landed at Frankfurt, Germany, and Entebbe, Uganda, and arrived at Nairobi on 29 November 1969. The single Ae. sollicitans was recovered in July from an aircraft that started from Rome. C. p. fatigans was collected from 28 planes coming from places outside Kenya; the greatest number of mosquitos of this species collected from one aircraft being 24. The recovery in aircraft of 2 mosquitos foreign to East Africa, namely, C. annulata and Ae. sollicitans, demonstrates the ever-present danger of insects being carried between different continents. Although little information is available, it can be assumed that mosquito-breeding sites are present around airports and also that little or no disinsection of aircraft is carried out in most countries. It is thought that insects enter aircraft at times when they are withdrawn from service for routine maintenance and stand in unprotected hangers, at night under powerful lamps. However, further investigation is needed to elucidate the problem of where and when ingress takes place. In the meantime, it is suggested that all public health authorities should reimpose disinsection of aircraft by using the " blocks away " method, until airline operators accept, and use, the dichlorvos vapour disinsection system approved by the World Health Organization. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We express our thanks to Dr J. C. Likimani, Director of Medical Services, Kenya, for permission to publish this note and thank Dr P. F. Mattingly, British Museum (Natural History), London, for the identification of C. annulata and Ae. sollicitans and Mr Lamenge for supervising many of the searches. REFERENCES Pippin, W. F., Thompson, S. & Wilson, R. (1968) Mosquito News, 28, 646 Soper, F. L. & Wilson, D. B. (1943) Anopheles gambiae in Brazil; 1930 to 1940, New York, Rockefeller Foundation Symes, C. B. (1935) Rec. med. Res. Lab. Nairobi, No. 6 Symes, C. B. (1947) Hlth Horizon, No. 32 Transliteration from Cyrillic characters The "International System for the Trans- literation of Cyrillic Characters ", set out in Recommendation ISO/R9-1954 (E) of the Inter- national Organization for Standardization, is normally used in the Bulletin ofthe World Health Organization for personal names, titles of publi- cations, etc. However, papers accepted for publication may contain names transliterated differently, and if the original Cyrillic spelling is not recognizable inconsistencies may occur. For convenience the transliteration from Russian according to ISO/R9 is given below: Translitteration des Caracteres cyrilliques Le ((Systeme international pour la translitte- ration des caracteres cyrilliques * presente dans la Recommandation ISO/R9-1954 (F) de l'Orga- nisation internationale de Normalisation est generalement utilise dans le Bulletin de l'Organi- sation mondiale de la Sante pour les noms de personnes, les titres de publications, etc. Cepen- dant des articles acceptes pour publication peuvent contenir des noms translitteres diff& remment et si l'orthographe cyrillique originale n'est pas reconnaissable un manque d'unifor- mite peut s'ensuivre. A toutes fins utiles, la translitteration du russe selon la recommandation ISO/R9 est indiqu'e ci-apres: Trans- Trans- Cyilc literation Crlic literation character R srom Examples and remarks character fruiman Examples and remarks Caractbre Trans- Exemples et observations Caractere Trans- Exemples et observations cyrillique iTtratisn cyrillique lTtratisn du russe du russe A, a a Axpec = Adres Y, y u YTPO= Utro B, 6 b Ba6a = Baba 0, 4) f ODH3HKa = Fizika B, B v Bbi = Vy X, x h XHMHiqeCKHfH = Himiceskij r, r g rnIaBa = Glava LA, 4- C LeHTpanbHbIit = Central'nyj ronuoBa = Golova I4 p q c lacE = Casy , A d ,Ala = Da 11I, u s HIKona = Skola E, e (e) e (e) Enue = EsC LU, u1 sE LLIeKa = Sceka )1, m z )CypHaii = Zurnal (medial, #or" In modern Russian, where 3, 3 z 3ne3xta = Zvezda medial) ou" sometimes replaces medial ^, transliteration is still ".11I, H i UnuHt = Ili lb, b En russe moderne, oii le ' rem- fl, Ul i -blUi -H.fi, -orl = -yj -ij -oj place quelquefois le 'b medial, la , , . , , ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~translitteration reste " 1, K k K{aK = Kak (final) (Not RMo6tM = Liubit' ~~~~~~~~trans-JI, n 1 JIIo6Ub - j literated. M, M m MY)K = Muz Non trans- H, H n HUH>HHi = Niznij littere.) 0, 0 o 06uec'rBo = Obkestvo bI, bl y BbIl = Byl n, H p nepBblri = Pervyj b, b 'or' 'oul MaAeHbKHI = Malen'kij P, p r Pw6a = Ryba 3, 3 e 3To = Eto C, c s Cec'rpa = Sestra 1o, io ju I0>KHbl.i = Juznyj T, T t ToBapHun = Tovarik 51, nl ja Slihio = Jajco p CyrillicI to be transliterated by only when the diacritical appears in the original.par e que lorsque la diacritique apparait dans l'original. Le 6 cyrillique ne doit 6tre translitt6r6