摘要:Background: Children carry the main burden of morbidity and mortality caused by dengue. Children spend a considerable amount of their day at school; hence strategies that reduce humanmosquito contact to protect against the day-biting habits of Aedes mosquitoes at schools, such as insecticide-impregnated uniforms, could be an effective prevention strategy.Methodology: We used mathematical models to calculate the risk of dengue infection based on force of infection taking into account the estimated proportion of mosquito bites that occur in school and the proportion of school time that children wear the impregnated uniforms.Principal findings: The use of insecticide-impregnated uniforms has efficacy varying from around 6% in the most pessimistic estimations, to 55% in the most optimistic scenarios simulated.Conclusions: Reducing contact between mosquito bites and human hosts via insecticide-treated uniforms during school time is theoretically effective in reducing dengue incidence and may be a valuable additional tool for dengue control in school-aged children. The efficacy of this strategy, however, is dependent on the compliance of the target population in terms of proper and consistent wearing of uniforms and, perhaps more importantly, the proportion of bites inflicted by the Aedes population during school time.Keywords: dengue; school children; impregnated clothes; insecticide-treated uniforms; force of infection; mathematical models; Thailand(Published: 28 March 2013)Citation: Glob Health Action 2013, 6: 20473 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v6i0.20473
关键词:preventive medicine: community health: public health;dengue; school children; impregnated clothes; insecticide-treated uniforms; force of infection; mathematical models; Thailand;subclass RA