J Arthropod-Borne Dis, June 2019, 13(2): 191–197 E Moradi-Asl et al.: Investigation on the … 191 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 24, 2019 Original Article Investigation on the Occurrence of Aedes Species in Borderline of Iran and Azerbaijan for Control of Arboviral Diseases Eslam Moradi-Asl1; *Hassan Vatandoost2,3; Davod Adham1; Daryosh Emdadi4; Hassan Moosa-Kazemi2 1Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran 2Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3Department of Environmental chemical pollutants and pesticides, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 4Center for Disease Control of Ardabil University and Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran (Received 18 Jul 2018; accepted 11 May 2019) Abstract Background: To investigate the diversity of the genus Aedes present in the natural areas of Ardabil Province, north- west of Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from Apr to Oct 2016 in North-western of Iran. Thirty-three areas of 10 cities which are border areas were selected randomly. The larvae were collected 2 times in each month during the seasonal activities of mosquitoes and the larvae were identified morphologically according to the ap- propriate identification keys. Results: Overall, 694 larvae were collected from four counties, from which only 7.2% were Aedes larvae. Three species of Aedes were identified which include Ae. caspius, Ae. vexans and Ae. flavescens. Aedes flavescens is re- ported from Ardabil Province for the first time. Conclusion: Aedes species were a high density in borderline of Iran and Azerbaijan. Therefore, the north parts of Ardabil Province are a suitable habitat for Aedes species mosquitoes. Care should be taken for vector control in the case of occurrence of any arboviruses transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Keywords: Larval habitat, Aedes, Borderline, Iran Introduction Mosquito-borne arboviruses are health threat in the worldwide. For instance, more than 2.5 billion people live in high-risk areas of dengue fever (DF) in the world and over 100 million people are infected with this dis- ease (1, 2). Currently, there is no vaccine and no spe- cific treatment for DF (3). Recently, outbreaks of DF have happened in Malaysia, Taiwan, and India (4). Endemic DF always occurred in Southeast Asia (5). However, some out- breaks recently have been occurred in parts of the Middle East, South Asian countries including Pakistan (6, 7). Some factors affecting the distribution of DF in different parts of the world are as fol- lows: Increasing urban population density, in- creased travel, and unsystematically urbani- zation (8-10). DF has been reported in 120 countries (11). The agent of DF is a Flaviviridae family and the main vectors are Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus (12). Thus mosquitoes are an invasive species in world widespread in trop- ical and temperate regions of the world. The ability to lay eggs and grow in dishes cultur- al artifacts. In the last two decades and facili- tate the movement in the world are impacts factors in distribution of this mosquitoes (13). *Corresponding author: Prof Hassan Vatandoost, E-mail: hvatandoost1@yahoo.com J Arthropod-Borne Dis, June 2019, 13(2): 191–197 E Moradi-Asl et al.: Investigation on the … 192 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 24, 2019 Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are vec- tors of important diseases such as DF, yellow fever and Chikungunya (14-16). Aedes aegypti is a mainly urban vector and is feeding exclu- sively from human (17). Aedes albopictus are mostly found in suburban and rural environ- ments and are feeding of the different spe- cies of mammals, including humans, as well as the different species of birds (18). Currently, vector control is the best meth- od to control of the DF (19). In Iran, studies regarding the biodiversity and distribution of Aedes are limited. However, there is no in- formation on Aedes mosquito's diversity com- ponents in north-western of Iran. The aim of this study was to investigate the diversity of Aedes genus present in the natural areas, as well as the differences on the faunestic com- position of Aedes species in function of the climatic and ecological features of Ardabil Province borderline. Various Aedes mosquito species are con- sidered as potential vectors of Zika virus in- cluding Ae. africanus, Ae. albopictus, Ae. pol- ynesiensis, Ae. unilineatus, Ae. vitiates, Ae. apicoargenteus, Ae. leuteocephalus, Ae. aegypti, Ae. vitattus, Ae. furcifer, and Ae. hensilli. Materials and Methods Study area This cross-sectional study was carried out from Apr to Oct 2016 in north-western of Iran. Ardabil Province is located in northwestern Iran 37.45° to 39.42° N and 47.30° to 48.55° E. The province has an area of 17 953km2. This province is bordered to the north with the Republic of Azerbaijan and along the border is 282.5km (Fig. 1). In 159km from the bor- der, flowing Aras and Balha rivers. During the border, Iran linked to the Republic of Azer- baijan for two areas Bilehsavar and Aslanduz. Ardabil Province in the longitudinal axis of the expansion (1°35`) and high extent to the north-south latitudes (2°31`) have a large va- riety of climates. About 2/3 textured moun- tainous with large variation in height and the rest are flat areas and posts. North province (Mugan plain) with low altitude has relative- ly warm weather and central and southern re- gions have a cool mountain climate (20-22). Sample collection Overall, 33 areas of 10 cities of priority border areas were selected randomly. During the seasonal activity, the larvae were collect- ed in each month 2 times. Using a ladle han- dling, and the standard ladle of 350mL was collected from natural and artificial larval hab- itats. In each habitat, sampling was collected from different parts and the ladle was made 10 times on each side. In the case of well water used from the bucket and the limited larval habitats such as cavity trees were used from droppers. The larval stages III and were stored in lactophenol solution and after about a week and transparent larvae, using Berlese's Fluid were prepared microscopic slides and identi- fied morphologically using appropriate iden- tification keys. Results Overall, 2000 mosquito larvae were col- lected, from which only Aedes larvae were selected and identified. From 33 areas, six (18%) were positive for the presence of Aedes larvae. In four counties, (40%) Aedes larvae were collected. Totally, 694 larvae were col- lected from four counties that 7.2% were Ae- des larvae. Three species of Aedes genus were identified which included Ae. caspius, Ae vexans, and Ae. flavescens. These species were reported from thee Ardabil Province for the first time. All three species were collected from 78–2114 meter above sea level altitude. Aedes larvae were collected from two differ- ent climate zones. The first zone: the north- ern part of the province where the climate is hot and humid and low altitude (60–78km) J Arthropod-Borne Dis, June 2019, 13(2): 191–197 E Moradi-Asl et al.: Investigation on the … 193 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 24, 2019 that includes Pars Abad and Bilehsavar and the second zone: southern part of the province with mountainous climate and high altitude (2114-2110m), which includes the Khalkhal and Sareyn (Table 1). In the first zone the larvae were collected in Jun and Sep months but in the second zone in Jul and Aug. All three species Aedes more in border areas The maximum Aedes larvae from three species were collected in border- line of Iran and Azerbaijan but in other areas in this study, only two species for low abun- dance were collected (Table 2). The survey of larvae habitat characteristics showed that most of larvae were collected (66%) in areas without trees and shrubs and sunny. Totally 80% of larvae habitats were temporary that including holes and marshes around rivers and craters were caused by the overflow wa- ters and 86% were natural habitat. About 50 % of the larvae collected in the afternoon and at cooler temperatures and 33% at mid-day and 17% at AM. The water of larval habitat more was mainly stagnant and 50% transpar- ent and type of bed habitat was 80% clay and 20% sand. Table 1. Total larvae collected from Ardabil Province, north-western of Iran, 2016 location Village Total larvae Aedes larvae Genus Species Elevation Y X Sareyn Alvars 40 1 Aedes caspius 2110m 38.14985 47.96122 Bilehsavar Jafarabad 68 10 Aedes caspius 176m 39.50238 48.04068 2 Aedes flavescens Khalkhal khangahe 213 1 Aedes caspius 2114m 37.53637 48.5755 1 Aedes flavescens Parsabad Oltan 251 3 Aedes caspius 74m 39.60545 47.76123 Mahmoudabad 70 10 Aedes caspius 87m 39.54975 47.97872 3 Aedes flavescens 3 Aedes vexans Normohamadkandi 52 10 Aedes caspius 165m 39.4721 47.49537 5 Aedes flavescens 1 Aedes vexans Total 694 50 Table 2. Larval abundance of Aedes in Ardabil Province, north-western of Iran, 2016 Species Aedes caspius Aedes flavescens Aedes vexans Total % Kowsar 0 0 0 0 0 Bilehsavar 10 2 0 12 24 Parsabad 23 8 4 35 70 Germi 0 0 0 0 0 Khalkhal 1 1 0 2 4 Nir 0 0 0 0 0 Namin 0 0 0 0 0 Meshkinshahr 0 0 0 0 0 Sareyn 1 0 0 1 2 Ardabil 0 0 0 0 0 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, June 2019, 13(2): 191–197 E Moradi-Asl et al.: Investigation on the … 194 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 24, 2019 Fig. 1. Map of study area, Ardabil Province, Iran Discussion In this study three spices of Aedes larvae (Ae. caspius, Ae. vexans and Ae. flavescens) identified from Ardabil Province, North-west- ern of Iran that one species (Ae. flavescens) was reported for first time. Aedes larvae were dispersed in all regions of Ardabil Province but the frequency of Aedes larvae were max- imum in north regions of this province that borderline of Iran and Azerbaijan. Only two adult species was reported (Ae. caspius and Ae. vexans) (22). Aedes caspius is distributed in Palearctic areas (23) and in Iran reported from more than 16 provinces such as Gilan, West Azerbaijan, Khorasan, Zanjan, Lorestan, Isfahan, Yazd, Kerman, Hormozgan, Bushire and Khozestan (24). This species very more frequently collected from six regions (Parsa- bad, Aslanduz, Bilehsavar, Khalkhal and Sar- eyn) in this study that two areas (Aslanduz and Bilehsavar) were located in borderline of Iran and Azerbaijan and both are customhouse. This species is also collected with extensive distribution from Gilan and Ardabil Province (25-26). Moreover, Ae. caspius reported from Bushire (27), Eastern of Iran (28), Chahar- mahal and Bakhtiari (29), East Azerbaijan (30) and Qom Province (31). In 2016, Ae. caspius along with Ae. albopictus and Aedes uniline- atus reported from Sistan and Baluchestan (32). Aedes caspius more feeding on mammals and humans (9, 33) and can be transmitted Rift Valley fever, dirofilariasis and tularemia (34). Aedes vexans is distributed in Holoarctic and Oriental areas (35). This species and Ae. eagypti and Culex quinquefasciatus have the most distribution in world (33). In Iran also reported from Gillan, West Azerbaijan, Ma- zandaran, Bushire and Hormozgan (23). In this study Ae. vexans larvae were collected 2 times in Jun and Sep from Parsabad and Aslanduz. The number of this species were lower in com- parison to other Aedes species but in Gillan Province the most larvae collected were Ae. vexans (25). The results of this study showed J Arthropod-Borne Dis, June 2019, 13(2): 191–197 E Moradi-Asl et al.: Investigation on the … 195 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: June 24, 2019 that the larvae of Ae. vexans were collected of less than 200m altitude that this result matched to another study (22) and the adults of this species collected from east Azerbai- jan in high altitude (30). The feeding prefer- ence of this species is on the mammals then birds and reptiles (32). Aedes vexans can trans- mitted various diseases such as eastern and western equine encephalitis, Japanese enceph- alitis and California encephalitis. Aedes flavescens was reported first time in Ardabil Province and 11 larvae of Ae. Fla- vescens collected from three parts of this ar- ea (Parsabad, Bilehsavar and Khalkhal). To- tally 100% of larvae habitats were temporary and most whit vegetation. Total of these lar- vae were collected at afternoon. Zaim et al. for first time reported Ae. flavescens from West Azerbaijan in 1987 and one time from large pool whit vegetation (24). These results showed that Ae. flavescens were dispersed in north- west of Iran. Conclusion Aedes species were a high density in bor- derline of Iran and Azerbaijan. 40% of Ar- dabil Province was found Aedes mosquitoes. So the north parts of Ardabil Province are a suitable habitat for Aedes species mosquitoes. Therefore, more studies need to be done in these areas. 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