Landscape Ecology and Epidemiology of Malaria Associated with Rubber Plantations in Thailand: Integrated Approaches to Malaria Ecotoping

Figure 2

Malaria risks. (a) Malaria risks attributed to rubber plantation practices (RPPs) in the South and East of Thailand. Rubber farmers or rubber plantation workers residing in households or at the smallholdings in the MRP ecotope do not always sleep under nets during the nighttime RPPs. Two hypothetical malaria risks can be depicted for the adulthood infections. The low risk (green) occurs during which the RPPs are performed before 21:00 h or after 03:00 h. The high risk (red) occurs during which the RPPs are continuously performed between 21:00 and 03:00 h. The difference in malaria risks depends on probable human-vector contact through multiple bites of primary Anopheles vectors (e.g., An. dirus, An. minimus, and An. maculatus) at multiple locations. (b) The rubber plantation polygon where established for MIP (also see Figure 5) showing human movement patterns during nighttime RPPs by both adult male (with past history of P. malariae infection) (also see Table 2) and female rubber plantation workers. Human movement patterns were recorded using the video recorder compatible with the GPS tracking device, during the ground survey in December 2014. After leaving the house, both female and male workers show movement activities asynchronous to each other.

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