Community-based sustainable vector management strategies in rural areas of Zhejiang Province: criteria development and long-term impact assessment of vector control towards "Four Pests-Free Village" pilot program

Jinna Wang¹Jun Xia²Wenrong Zhang³Tianqi Li¹Mingyu Luo¹Qinmei Liu¹Junxiang Guo²Jimin Sun^1*Zhenyu Gong^1*Jianmin Jiang^1*

• ¹Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, China
• ²Zhejiang Patriotic Health Development Center, Hangzhou, China
• ³Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

Objectives: This study aimed to develop the relevant criterion of pilot program of the "Four Pests-Free Village"(FPFV) , and to further investigate the effects on vector control in Zhejiang Province.The criterion of the FPFV were developed based on actual pilot experience and expert consultations. Vector density surveillance was conducted in all 11 prefecture-level cities of Zhejiang Province, including two FPFV and two control villages for each city. The CDC light trap method and Breteau Index (BI) method were used to monitor the density of mosquito. The fly trap method, night trapping method and sticky board method were used to monitor the density of fly,rodent and cockroach, respectively. Surveillance for mosquitoes and flies was conducted monthly from April to November 2023. Rodent and cockroach monitoring was conducted every odd month.Kruskal-Wallis Test was used for data analysis.The FPFV evaluation covered village organization management, health education, vector integrated control method, vector surveillance, and vector density control levels. A village could be named FPFV if the whole scored over 80 points. The Culex pipiens pallens (91.03%) was major species of mosquitoes; the total BI was 14.25; the Sarcophagidae (31.97%) and Musca domestica (31.41%) was major species of flies; the Rattus norvegicus (38.56%) was major species of rodents; the Blattella germanica (65.68%) was major species of cockroaches in rural areas of Zhejiang Province. All the vector density investigated in the FPFV were lower than controls, including the adult mosquitoes (2.32 vs. 4.87 mosquitoes per trap-night), mosquito larvae (BI: 9.70 vs. 19.41), flies (1.32 vs. 2.17 flies per trap), rodents (0.41 vs. 0.84 rodents per 100 trap-nights), and cockroaches (the cockroach capture rate: 1.77% vs. 5.87%), with all the results were statistically significant (P≤0.05).Conclusions: Findings from this study indicated that the FPFV was suitable for rural areas, with the method of sustainable vector management strategies was practical and reliable. Vectors density in the FPFV could be controlled at a low level for a relatively long time than control village, which could greatly reduce the harassment of vector species on the population and the spread of related diseases.