Ross, Macdonald, and a Theory for the Dynamics and Control of Mosquito-Transmitted Pathogens
Figure 2
The Ross-Macdonald theory of control.
(Top left) A relationship exists between the length of a mosquito feeding cycle (2, 3, or 5 days in blue, black, or red), the proportion of parous mosquitoes (denoted O), and the mosquito lifespan (denoted 1/g). (Top right) This relationship can be used to measure predicted changes in the mosquito lifespan (Δg−1) through estimated proportional changes in the proportion parous, which are invariant to the mosquito blood feeding rate (ΔO/O). (Bottom left) These changes can be translated into an effect size on transmission, a proportional change in reproductive numbers (R0/RC). (Bottom right) Finally, these can be translated into changes in the endemic parasite rate for a given effect size: RC = R0/2.5 (dashed) or R0/5 (dotted).