Very large breeding sites of the onchocerciasis vector, Simulium sirbanum were discovered along the Rivers Niger, Mafou, Kouya, Niandan and Milo in the Upper Niger Basin of Guinea. Flies reared from these breeding sites and caught biting man nearby were found to be in the same size range as those collected in the south‐eastern Mali invasion zone of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme Area. The periodicity of the Mali invasion appeared to be related to the hydrological conditions in the Upper Niger Basin during the early monsoon. During this period, rising water levels greatly increase vector breeding in the principal rapids of the Niger and its tributaries which lie upwind and to the south‐west of the invasion sites in south‐eastern Mali. The Mali invasion ceases towards the height of the rainy season when many of these rapids are flooded. It was concluded that the very large breeding sites associated with the principal rapids in the Upper Niger Basin were the main sources of the S. sirbanum invading south‐eastern Mali.
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Baker et al. (1987) studied this question.
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