THE RATE OF DIGESTION OF BLOOD IN MOSQUITOES. PRECIPITIN TEST STUDIES

1952 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 267-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. West ◽  
G. S. Eligh
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Pertinent Literature ◽  
Blood Digestion ◽  
Precipitin Test ◽  
Western Equine Encephalitis ◽  
Host Blood ◽  
Holding Temperature ◽  
Blood Meals

This paper describes the use of the serological procedure known as the precipitin test to study the rate of digestion of host blood in mosquitoes. In the laboratory, at constant temperatures, precipitin reactions were obtained on blood meals of Aedes aegypti eight days after engorgement when the mosquitoes were held at 11 °C. but only one or two days after engorgement when the holding temperature was 27 °C. Field studies with A. hexodontus in northern Manitoba also showed that temperature has a strong influence on the rate of blood digestion. Pertinent literature is reviewed and the limitations of the precipitin test are discussed. Until now little attention has been devoted in Canada to possible disease transmission by mosquitoes. Increasing interest in mosquitoes as vectors of the encephalitides and proved transmission of western equine encephalitis by Culex restuans in Manitoba suggest the importance of further knowledge of mosquito physiology.

scholarly journals Assessing the blood-host plasticity and dispersal rate of the malaria vector Anopheles coluzzii

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Orsborne ◽  
Luis Furuya-Kanamori ◽  
Claire L. Jeffries ◽  
Mojca Kristan ◽  
Abdul Rahim Mohammed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Meal ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Host Choice ◽  
Anopheles Coluzzii ◽  
Dispersal Rate ◽  
Blood Digestion ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
Blood Meal Digestion ◽  
Blood Meals

AbstractDifficulties with observing the dispersal of insect vectors in the field have hampered understanding of several aspects of their behaviour linked to disease transmission. Here, a novel method based on detection of blood-meal sources is introduced to inform two critical and understudied mosquito behaviours: plasticity in the malaria vector’s blood-host choice and vector dispersal. Strategically located collections of Anopheles coluzzii from a malaria-endemic village of southern Ghana showed statistically significant variation in host species composition of mosquito blood-meals. Trialling a new sampling approach gave the first estimates for the remarkably local spatial scale across which host choice is plastic. Using quantitative PCR, the blood-meal digestion was then quantified for field-caught mosquitoes and calibrated according to timed blood digestion in colony mosquitoes. We demonstrate how this new ‘molecular Sella score’ approach can be used to estimate the dispersal rate of blood-feeding vectors caught in the field.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PRECIPITIN TEST IN THE DETERMINATION OF BLOOD MEALS OF INSECTS

1952 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Eligh
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effect ◽  
Liquid State ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Precipitin Reaction ◽  
Precipitin Test ◽  
Host Blood ◽  
Blood Meals

Certain factors influence the performance of precipitin tests when the latter are used for detection of blood meals of biting flies. Antisera stored in a liquid state in a refrigerator generally show a decrease in titer with the passage of time. Aging appears to have an adverse effect on the avidity of an antiserum. Smears of blood-engorged mosquitoes prepared by smearing of the entire insect are satisfactory for testing by the precipitin reaction. A high-titered antiserum which can be diluted is desirable for detection of host blood in mosquitoes.

scholarly journals Understanding mosquito host-choice behaviour: a new and low-cost method of identifying the sex of human hosts from mosquito blood meals

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Teltscher ◽  
Sophie Bouvaine ◽  
Gabriella Gibson ◽  
Paul Dyer ◽  
Jennifer Guest ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Meal ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Host Choice ◽  
Epidemiological Models ◽  
Choice Behaviour ◽  
Vector Borne ◽  
Transmission Models ◽  
Blood Meals

Abstract Background Mosquito-borne diseases are a global health problem, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths per year. Pathogens are transmitted by mosquitoes feeding on the blood of an infected host and then feeding on a new host. Monitoring mosquito host-choice behaviour can help in many aspects of vector-borne disease control. Currently, it is possible to determine the host species and an individual human host from the blood meal of a mosquito by using genotyping to match the blood profile of local inhabitants. Epidemiological models generally assume that mosquito biting behaviour is random; however, numerous studies have shown that certain characteristics, e.g. genetic makeup and skin microbiota, make some individuals more attractive to mosquitoes than others. Analysing blood meals and illuminating host-choice behaviour will help re-evaluate and optimise disease transmission models. Methods We describe a new blood meal assay that identifies the sex of the person that a mosquito has bitten. The amelogenin locus (AMEL), a sex marker located on both X and Y chromosomes, was amplified by polymerase chain reaction in DNA extracted from blood-fed Aedes aegypti and Anopheles coluzzii. Results AMEL could be successfully amplified up to 24 h after a blood meal in 100% of An. coluzzii and 96.6% of Ae. aegypti, revealing the sex of humans that were fed on by individual mosquitoes. Conclusions The method described here, developed using mosquitoes fed on volunteers, can be applied to field-caught mosquitoes to determine the host species and the biological sex of human hosts on which they have blood fed. Two important vector species were tested successfully in our laboratory experiments, demonstrating the potential of this technique to improve epidemiological models of vector-borne diseases. This viable and low-cost approach has the capacity to improve our understanding of vector-borne disease transmission, specifically gender differences in exposure and attractiveness to mosquitoes. The data gathered from field studies using our method can be used to shape new transmission models and aid in the implementation of more effective and targeted vector control strategies by enabling a better understanding of the drivers of vector-host interactions.

Pollution toxicity to the transmission of larval digeneans through their molluscan hosts

Parasitology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 126 (7) ◽  
pp. S5-S26 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. MORLEY ◽  
S. W. B. IRWIN ◽  
J. W. LEWIS
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Health ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Aquatic Animals ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Area Of Concern

The increased occurrence of pollutants in ecosystems is a continuing area of concern. It is known that numerous diseases of wild aquatic animals can occur with decreased or increased prevalences in areas associated with high or chronic levels of pollution. This may have serious implications for environmental health. There has consequently been an increasing number of laboratory and field studies on disease transmission under polluted conditions, especially focusing on digeneans of medical or economic importance. The effect of pollutants to the transmission of larval digeneans (miracidia, cercariae, metacercariae) and snail-digenean interactions is therefore considered. An overview and interpretation of the published literature on laboratory and field studies is provided. It is apparent from these studies that the influence of pollutants on digenean transmission is highly complex with much of the observed effects in the laboratory often masked by a complexity of other factors in the field. Future studies would benefit from a standardisation of experimental procedures, increasing the number of combined laboratory and field studies, and increasing the complexity of the experiments undertaken.

The dynamics of vector-transmitted diseases in human communities

1988 ◽  
Vol 321 (1207) ◽  
pp. 513-539 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Disease Model ◽  
Transmitted Disease ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Human Host ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Reservoir Species ◽  
Single Feature ◽  
Trypanosomatid Parasites ◽  
Vector Borne

The development of vector-transmitted disease models and their application to field studies is reviewed. The key concepts of the basic rate of reproduction and disease transmission threshold are explained, and their application to disease control briefly illustrated. The complications involved in producing appropriate models are discussed for the case of the trypanosomatid parasites Leishmania and Trypanosoma that frequently have more than one vertebrate host and are often fatal in the human host. A two-species, vector-borne disease model allows a quantification of the role of animal reservoirs in maintaining human diseases. Human prevalence may be determined more by the parasitological characteristics of wild reservoir species, about which little is generally known, than by any other single feature of the complex interaction between parasites, vectors and hosts. Domestic animals are often ideal reservoirs, maintaining large numbers of vectors and considerably enlarging the parasite pool. When vector-transmitted diseases are fatal to the human host, human and vector dynamics interact in ways which may cause epidemic cycles, low-level endemic equilibria or disease extinction. For both leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis it is suggested that a very small number of chronic human cases can maintain the disease in the human population over long periods of time between epidemic outbreaks. They may also be important in the maintenance of geographically distinct foci, characteristic of human trypanosomiasis in Africa. Finally there is a plea to establish a tradition of field observation leading to, and being directed by, mathematical models which in turn are modified as the observations accumulate. All too often, one-way traffic between the two results in slow, or misguided, progress.

Host preferences and feeding patterns of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) at Kowanyama, Cape York Peninsula, northern Queensland

1979 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Kay ◽  
P. F. L. Boreham ◽  
G. M. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Host Preference ◽  
Host Feeding ◽  
Feeding Patterns ◽  
Host Preferences ◽  
Resting Sites ◽  
Precipitin Test ◽  
Pulmonary Dirofilariasis ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
Cape York ◽  
Blood Meals

AbstractClosely spaced stable traps were used to determine the preferences of mosquitoes for 6 vertebrates at Kowanyama, northern Queensland, on 4 occasions during the wet and dry seasons of 1974–75. A total of 44 626 mosquitoes from 35 taxa was collected and compared with 26 215 specimens of 15 taxa trapped at Charleville, south-west Queensland, in February 1976. Host preference was analysed in detail for 11 species;Anopheles bancroftiiGiles,An. amictusEdw.,An. annulipesWlk.,An. farauti Lav.,An. meraukensisVenhuis,Aedes bancroftianusEdw.,Ae. normanensis(Tayl.),Ae. vittiger(Skuse),Culex annidirostrisSkuse,Cx. quinquefasciatusSay (=fatigansWied.) andMansonia uniformis(Theo.). All species in these experiments, including the important vector of arboviruses,Cx. annulirostris, preferred mammalian baits, especially calf, althoughAn. bancroftiiandCx. quinquefasciatuspreferred man. Blood-meals of 5802 engorged mosquitoes of 21 taxa collected from natural resting sites at Kowanyama village were analysed by the precipitin test. Mammals, particularly dogs, were the most important hosts.Cx. squamosus(Tayl.) andCx. quinquefasciatuswere the only species to feed extensively on birds (75–6 and 28–7%, respectively).Uranotaenia albescensTayl. fed almost entirely on amphibia. No seasonal shifts in feeding ofAn. bancroftii, An. annulipes, Cx. annulirostrisorCx. quinquefasciatuswere evident from either host-preference or host-feeding patterns, the latter being evaluated using a ‘ Feeding Index ’. These results are discussed in relation to the transmission of arboviruses, particularly Murray Valley encephalitis virus and pulmonary dirofilariasis of man and dogs in Australia.

scholarly journals Probe-based multiplex qPCR identifies bloodmeal hosts in Anopheles mosquitoes from Papua New Guinea

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B Keven ◽  
Georgia Artzberger ◽  
Mary L. Gillies ◽  
Rex B. Mbewe ◽  
Edward D. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Pcr ◽  
Nuclear Dna ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Molecular Probe ◽  
Malaria Vectors ◽  
Anopheles Mosquitoes ◽  
Vertebrate Hosts ◽  
Host Blood ◽  
Blood Meals

Abstract Background: Determination of bloodmeal hosts in blood-fed female Anopheles mosquitoes is important for evaluating vectorial capacity of vector populations and assessing effectiveness of vector control measures. Sensitive molecular methods are needed to detect traces of host blood in mosquito samples, to differentiate hosts, and to detect mixed host blood meals. This paper describes a molecular probe-based quantitative PCR for identifying bloodmeal hosts in Anopheles malaria vectors from Papua New Guinea.Methods: TaqMan oligonucleotide probes targeting specific regions of mitochondrial or nuclear DNA of the three primary Anopheles bloodmeal hosts – humans, pigs and dogs – were incorporated into a multiplex, quantitative PCR which was optimized for sensitivity and specificity.Results: Amplification of serially diluted DNA showed that the quantitative PCR detected as low as 10-5 ng/μl of host DNA. Application to field-collected, blood-fed Anopheles showed that the quantitative PCR identified the vertebrate hosts for 335/375 (89%) of mosquitoes whereas only 104/188 (55%) of bloodmeal samples tested in a conventional PCR were identified. Of 188 blood-fed Anopheles that were analyzed in both PCR methods, 16 (8.5%) were identified as mixed bloodmeals by the quantitative PCR whereas only 3 (1.6%) were mixed bloodmeals by the conventional PCR.Conclusions: The multiplex quantitative PCR described here is sensitive at detecting low DNA concentration and mixed host DNA in samples and useful for bloodmeal analysis of field mosquitoes, in particular mixed-host bloodmeals.

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