Table 1 Definitions and explanations for symbols and abbreviations.

Availability of individual hosts for attack: rate at which a single mosquito encounters and then attacks a given single host or pseudo-host [24].

Total availability of hosts and pseudo hosts: rate at which a single mosquito encounters and attacks all hosts and pseudo hosts [24].

The mean number of bites upon humans per emerging mosquito during its lifetime [15, 30].

The mean number of bites upon all human and non-human hosts per emerging mosquito during its lifetime.

The mean number of infectious, sporozoite-infected bites upon humans per emerging mosquito during its lifetime [15, 30].

The mean number of sporozoite-infected bites upon all hosts, regardless of their susceptibility to infection, per emerging mosquito during its lifetime.

Cattle [12, 15, 24, 28, 42].

Crude coverage [12, 15, 24, 28, 42]: Proportion of people using LLIN as estimated in standardized malaria indicator surveys [82, 83].

Protective coverage: The proportion of all exposure of the human population which is effectively covered by LLIN use at times when that exposure actually occurs.

Dichloro-diphenyl-dicloroethylene [14].

Probability that a mosquito which encounters a host will be diverted from that host [12, 15, 24].

Host-encounter rate: rate at which a single host-seeking mosquito encounters a given single hosts [12, 15, 24, 28, 42].

Emergence rate of mosquito vectors per year [12, 15, 24, 28].

Entomological inoculation rate (mean number of infectious bites that an average individual human receives per year) [84–87].

Probability that a mosquito which attacks a host will successfully feed upon that host [12, 15, 24, 28, 42].

Feeding cycle length: measured as the number of days it takes a single mosquito to get from one blood feed to the next [12, 15, 24, 28].

Gestation interval: number of days a mosquito takes to digest a blood meal and return to searching for oviposition site [12, 15, 24, 28].

Humans or cattle, respectively [12, 15, 24, 28, 42].

Indoor residual spraying [10, 49]

Human infectiousness to mosquitoes: probability of a vector becoming infected per human bite [29, 30, 88, 89].

Long-lasting insecticidal net [90]

Relative availability for attack of a given non-human host type, calculated as quotient of the mean individual attack availability of those hosts divided by the mean individual attack availability of humans not using LLINs [24].

Probability that a mosquito which attacks a host will die during the attack [12, 15, 24].

Oviposition site-seeking interval: number of days a mosquito takes to find an oviposition site once it starts searching for it [12, 15, 24, 28].

Host-seeking interval: number of days a mosquito takes to find and attack a vertebrate host [12, 15, 24, 28].

LLIN user or non-user, respectively

Number of hosts [12, 15, 24, 28].

Excess proportion of mosquitoes which are diverted while attempting to attack a human while using an LLIN [24].

Excess proportion of mosquitoes which are killed while attacking a human while that person is using an LLIN [24].

Excess proportion of mosquitoes which are killed before blood feeding while attacking a human while using an LLIN.

Excess proportion of mosquitoes which are killed after blood feeding while attacking a human while that person is using an LLIN.

Intervention package scenarios consisting of a specific coverage with LLINs with specific deterrent and toxic properties, with 0 denoting baseline conditions with negligible net coverage, simulated by setting C _h = 0.001 [24].

The proportion of normal exposure to mosquito bites upon humans lacking LLINs, which occurs indoors at times when nets would normally be in use [25–27, 37].

Specifies values of parameters for humans while actually using and protected by an LLIN, or those which are unprotected who do not use or are outside of their nets, respectively.

Probability that a resting mosquito survives any one day [15, 91].

Probability that a mosquito survives a single complete feeding cycle [12, 15, 24, 28, 30].

Probability that a mosquito survives any full day of the oviposition site-seeking interval or host-seeking interval [12, 15, 24].

Human blood index: the proportion of all blood meals from all hosts which are obtained from humans [12, 15, 24, 28, 30].

Probability that a mosquito attacks an encountered host [12, 15, 24].

Relative exposure of different hosts other than unprotected humans to infectious mosquito bites: calculated as a ratio of exposure of those hosts to exposure of humans not using nets [24].

World Health Organization

Availability of blood from an individual host: rate at which a single mosquito encounters, attacks and successfully feeds upon a given single host [24]

Total availability of blood from all hosts, all humans and all cattle, respectively: rate at which a single mosquito encounters, attacks and successfully feeds upon these host sets [24]

Total availability of aquatic habitats: rate at which a single mosquito encounters and successfully oviposits into all aquatic habitats