Towards eradication: Three years after the tsunami of 2004, has malaria transmission been eliminated from the island of Simeulue?

The island of Simeulue was the first landfall of the tsunami of December 2004. The tsunami destroyed many villages on the island, leaving one third of the population homeless. Malaria is endemic in Simeulue and an epidemic was reported to have occurred three months prior to the tsunami. Information concerning malaria was, however, not easily available. The earthquakes related to the tsunami may have created extensive potential breeding sites of Anopheles sundaicus, the probable vector, and increased vulnerability of the human population; a possibility of increased transmission made a further outbreak possible. Consequently, subsequent to the tsunami, considerable amounts of aid, including anti-malarial measures such as insecticide treated mosquito-nets, were deployed on the island. A series of island-wide cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2005-2007 to determine whether these had had any effect on malaria prevalence. Larval sampling, and CDC light-trap and landing collections of hungry mosquitoes were also undertaken. The results indicate that despite the continuing presence of potential vectors in some places the anti-malaria measures introduced following the tsunami have controlled, and may be close to eliminating, malaria from the island. © 2010 Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.