Hydrologie, paludisme et démoustication. (L'exemple de la Région Rhône-Alpes) / Hydrology, malaria and mosquito control : the example of the Rhône-Alpes region, France

摘要

Abstract : Hydrology, malaria and mosquito control: the example of the Rhône-Alpes region, France. After analysing historical documents concerning the presence of malaria during the 18th and 19th centuries in the French alpine piedmont (Forez and Dombes wetlands, floodplains of Rhone river and its tributaries), the authors show that the outbreak of the disease in the middle of the last century was a short-term consequence of civil engineering works, the marked increase in mosquito populations resulting from the modification of hydrological parameters associated with the diking of flood- plains. The reasons for the disappearance of malaria around 1883 are discussed and the authors point out that mosquito species capable of transmitting the plasmodium are still present today in the wetlands of the Rhône-Alpes region.