Ecological system of malaria

Changes in the landscapes caused by humans, due to the activities related to the use and occupation of the soil, represent a challenge for malaria control activities in the Brazilian Amazon. Therefore, we evaluated the ecological system of malaria in relation to the construction of three drivers: deforestation, land use and Culicidae diversity. These drivers had in common the landscape, modulated by factors of pressure (human host), risk (the vector) and necessary cause (the infectious agent). The transmission of pathogens, including species of Plasmodium, occurs at the intersection among niches of the human host, the vectors and the parasites, in an environment that allows the interconnection of these organisms. The data analyzed herein verified that every square kilometer of area impacted by deforestation between 2009-2015 produced 27 new cases of malaria (r² = 0.78, F1.10 = 35.81, P <0.001) in the Brazilian Legal Amazon, with a highly significant positive correlation between the number of forest areas with impacted less than 5 km² and the incidence of the disease. Due to the indirect relationship with deforestation, it was possible to verify that the increase in the production of soybean, wood, cattle and palm oil worldwide showed a significant positive correlation with the incidence of malaria in tropical countries. In the Brazilian scenario, the abundance of Nyssorhynchus darlingi responded positively to the loss of forest cover of endemic areas of malaria. In opposite, the Culicidae diversity decreased, leaving vectors as dominant species, favoring the biting rate and the capacity to Plasmodium transmission. Thus, it was possible to conclude that the incidence of the disease in rural areas is strongly associated with the patterns of land use and occupation. The structure of the landscape can be an indicator of risk for the disease, due to the ecological dynamics of the Ny. darlingi. (AU)