ABSTRACT
One century after mosquitoes were identified as vectors of malaria, these seemingly fragile insects are winning the war against the control of the disease, whose route of transmission remains wide open. More than a million deaths a year are attributed to malaria (Stuerchel, 1989; Murry and Lopez, 1 997). The spread of resistance by the malaria parasites to inexpensive drugs and by mosquitoes to safe insecticides has decreased the effectiveness of many malaria treatments and control strategies. Malaria is coming back in some parts of the world where it had been controlled by insecticides (for example, Thailand). Locally transmitted malaria cases are suspected to have occurred near international airports (for example, Jenkin et al. , 1 997) and in the US (for example, Dawson et al., 1 997). The disease may spread to some countries in the temperate zone if the anticipated climate warming occurs. Increased human movements and activities (such as forest destruction and new land utilization) have compounded the situation (Rogers and Packer, 1993 ; Patz et al. , 1996; Reiter, 1 996).
