Sustainable urban development and human health: septic tank as a major breeding habitat of mosquito vectors of human diseases in south-eastern Nigeria.

Septic tank mosquitoes in Abia State University Okigwe, south-eastern Nigeria were studied using exit traps between November 1988 and April 1989. The results were revealing and striking. Apart from the common septic tank mosquitoes, Culex p. quinquefasciatus, Cu. cinereus and Aedes aegypti, which have been previously commonly found breeding in ammonia and nitrate-rich waters of latrines and septic tanks, the other species, Cu. horridus, Cu. tigripes and Aedes vittatus, have not been commonly reported as colonizing septic tanks in Nigeria. Three out of these six mosquito species observed are vectors of human diseases: Aedes aegypti and Aedes vittatus are vectors of Yellow fever and Cu. p. quinquefasciatus is a potential vector of Bancroftian filariasis and a world-wide vector of various arboviruses. The fact that these mosquito vectors are able to breed in highly polluted waters of septic tanks during the harsh dry months when most surface water bodies are dry is epidemiologically important. The breeding of these mosquito vectors of human diseases around human dwellings indicates an intense man-vector contact creating a high level risk to the crowded urban population. The public health implications of this urbanization/modernization problem and solutions are discussed.