Weather Pattern And Diarrhoea Disease Vectors In Some Coastal Areas In Southern Ghana

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Date

2021-12

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University Of Ghana

Abstract

Dipterans belonging to Muscidae, Sarcophagidae and Calliphoridae families may mechanically transmit many microorganisms to humans like diarrhoea causing pathogens. It was imperative to determine seasonal variations in the diversity and density of dipteran vectors of diarrhoeal diseases in some coastal communities in the southern part of Ghana namely Anyako, Anyanui, Opetekwei and Mumford. This study investigated the seasonal variations in the diversity and density of dipteran vectors of diarrhoeal diseases relative to climatic factors in these coastal communities. The flies were collected by the use of plastic water bottle fly traps baited with mango, fish and meat. The collection was done in two seasons, dry (January-March) and wet (April-June). The flies were grouped into pools based on insect family, the month of collection and study sites then morphological identification of the flies was done using keys from Kirk-Spriggs & Sinclair (2017). These flies were swabbed for bacteria culture on T.C.B.S agar, S.S agar and Chromogenic UTI clarity agar. Identification of bacteria was performed using biochemical tests. The seasonality of flies was assessed throughout 6 months with baited traps in these 4 communities. A total of 8817 insects were collected and identified, consisting of 3 families and 3 genera – Muscidae (87.10%), Sarcophagidae (2%), Calliphoridae (10.66%). The greatest number of Muscidae, Sarcophagidae and Calliphoridae peaked from April to May. The abundance levels of Muscidae and Sarcophagidae were positively correlated with relative humidity with p value of p<0.01 and p<0.05 respectively whiles Calliphoridae had a positive correlation with precipitation with a p value of p<0.01 in Anyako. Muscidae abundance level had a positive correlation with a p value of p<0.05 with temperature only in Anyanui and Mumford while no correlation was seen in Opetekwei. Escherichia coli, a diarrhoea-causing bacteria was isolated from all insect genera from all the communities in both the dry and wet seasons. The study has found that there was a seasonal variation in the density of flies across the different sites and these vary with climatic factors such as temperature and precipitation and most flies carried E. coli, a diarrhoea-causing bacteria.

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MPhil. Entomology

Keywords

Diarrhoea, Southern Ghana, Coastal Areas, Weather Pattern

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