scholarly journals Advances in Understanding Vector Behavioural Traits after Infection

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1376
Author(s):  
Nouman Javed ◽  
Asim Bhatti ◽  
Prasad N. Paradkar
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Bed Nets ◽  
Host Feeding ◽  
Transmission Potential ◽  
Disease Epidemiology ◽  
Behavioural Changes ◽  
Host Seeking ◽  
Vector Borne

Vector behavioural traits, such as fitness, host-seeking, and host-feeding, are key determinants of vectorial capacity, pathogen transmission, and epidemiology of the vector-borne disease. Several studies have shown that infection with pathogens can alter these behavioural traits of the arthropod vector. Here, we review relevant publications to assess how pathogens modulate the behaviour of mosquitoes and ticks, major vectors for human diseases. The research has shown that infection with pathogens alter the mosquito’s flight activity, mating, fecundity, host-seeking, blood-feeding, and adaptations to insecticide bed nets, and similarly modify the tick’s locomotion, questing heights, vertical and horizontal walks, tendency to overcome obstacles, and host-seeking ability. Although some of these behavioural changes may theoretically increase transmission potential of the pathogens, their effect on the disease epidemiology remains to be verified. This study will not only help in understanding virus–vector interactions but will also benefit in establishing role of these behavioural changes in improved epidemiological models and in devising new vector management strategies.

scholarly journals Vector host-feeding preferences drive transmission of multi-host pathogens: West Nile virus as a model system

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1730) ◽  
pp. 925-933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer E. Simpson ◽  
Paul J. Hurtado ◽  
Jan Medlock ◽  
Goudarz Molaei ◽  
Theodore G. Andreadis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Transmission Model ◽  
Host Feeding ◽  
Feeding Preferences ◽  
West Nile ◽  
Transmission Potential ◽  
Vector Borne

Seasonal epizootics of vector-borne pathogens infecting multiple species are ecologically complex and difficult to forecast. Pathogen transmission potential within the host community is determined by the relative abilities of host species to maintain and transmit the pathogen and by ecological factors influencing contact rates between hosts and vectors. Increasing evidence of strong feeding preferences by a number of vectors suggests that the host community experienced by the pathogen may be very different from the local host community. We developed an empirically informed transmission model for West Nile virus (WNV) in four sites using one vector species ( Culex pipiens ) and preferred and non-preferred avian hosts. We measured strong feeding preferences for American robins ( Turdus migratorius ) by Cx. pipiens , quantified as the proportion of Cx. pipiens blood meals from robins in relation to their abundance (feeding index). The model accurately predicted WNV prevalence in Cx. pipiens at three of four sites. Sensitivity analysis revealed feeding preference was the most influential parameter on intensity and timing of peak WNV infection in Cx. pipiens and a threshold feeding index for transmission was identified. Our findings indicate host preference-induced contact heterogeneity is a key mediator of vector-borne pathogen epizootics in multi-species host communities, and should be incorporated into multi-host transmission models.

scholarly journals Tonic Immobility Is Influenced by Starvation, Life Stage, and Body Mass in Ixodid Ticks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kennan J Oyen ◽  
Lillian Croucher ◽  
Joshua B Benoit
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Tonic Immobility ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Rhipicephalus Sanguineus ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Dermacentor Variabilis ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Ixodid Ticks ◽  
Host Seeking

Abstract The ability to escape predation modulates predator–prey interactions and represents a crucial aspect of organismal life history, influencing feeding, mating success, and survival. Thanatosis, also known as death feigning or tonic immobility (TI), is taxonomically widespread, but understudied in blood-feeding vectors. Hematophagous arthropods, such as ticks, are unique among animals as their predators (birds, mice, lizards, frogs, and other invertebrates) may also be their source of food. Therefore, the trade-off between predator avoidance and host-seeking may shift as the time since the last bloodmeal increases. Because ticks are slow-moving and unable to fly, or otherwise escape, we predicted that they may use TI to avoid predation, but that TI would be influenced by time since the last bloodmeal (starvation). We therefore aimed to quantify this relationship, examining the effect of starvation, body mass, and ontogeny on TI for two tick species: Dermacentor variabilis (Say) (Acari: Ixodidae) and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille) (Acari: Ixodidae). As we predicted, the duration and use of TI decreased with time since feeding and emergence across species and life stages. Therefore, ticks may become more aggressive in their search for a bloodmeal as they continue to starve, opting to treat potential predators as hosts, rather than avoiding predation by feigning death. Antipredator behaviors such as TI may influence the intensity and amount of time ticks spend searching for hosts, driving patterns of tick-borne pathogen transmission. This identification and quantification of a novel antipredation strategy add a new component to our understanding of tick life history.

scholarly journals Dynamic modelling of personal protection control strategies for vector-borne disease limits the role of diversity amplification

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (145) ◽  
pp. 20180166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery Demers ◽  
Sharon Bewick ◽  
Justin Calabrese ◽  
William F. Fagan
Keyword(s):  
Disease Management ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Dynamic Modelling ◽  
Bed Nets ◽  
Personal Protection ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Vector Borne Disease ◽  
Vector Borne

Personal protection measures, such as bed nets and repellents, are important tools for the suppression of vector-borne diseases like malaria and Zika, and the ability of health agencies to distribute protection and encourage its use plays an important role in the efficacy of community-wide disease management strategies. Recent modelling studies have shown that a counterintuitive diversity-driven amplification in community-wide disease levels can result from a population's partial adoption of personal protection measures, potentially to the detriment of disease management efforts. This finding, however, may overestimate the negative impact of partial personal protection as a result of implicit restrictive model assumptions regarding host compliance, access to and longevity of protection measures. We establish a new modelling methodology for incorporating community-wide personal protection distribution programmes in vector-borne disease systems which flexibly accounts for compliance, access, longevity and control strategies by way of a flow between protected and unprotected populations. Our methodology yields large reductions in the severity and occurrence of amplification effects as compared to existing models.

scholarly journals Molecular Detection of Selected Pathogens with Zoonotic Potential in Deer Keds (Lipoptena fortisetosa)

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 324
Author(s):  
Remigiusz Gałęcki ◽  
Jerzy Jaroszewski ◽  
Tadeusz Bakuła ◽  
Eloiza M. Galon ◽  
Xuenan Xuan
Keyword(s):  
Companion Animals ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Potential Vector ◽  
Vector Borne Diseases ◽  
Host Seeking ◽  
Potential Pathogen ◽  
Veterinary Importance ◽  
Vector Borne ◽  
Free Ranging

Deer keds are obligatory hematophagous ectoparasites of birds and mammals. Cervids serve as specific hosts for these insects. However, ked infestations have been observed in non-specific hosts, including humans, companion animals, and livestock. Lipoptena fortisetosa is a weakly studied ectoparasite, but there is evidence to indicate that it continues to spread across Europe. The existing knowledge on deer keds’ impact on wildlife is superficial, and their veterinary importance is enigmatic. Lipoptena fortisetosa is a species with vectorial capacity, but potential pathogen transmission has not been assessed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of selected pathogens in L. fortisetosa collected from cervids and host-seeking individuals in the environment. Out of 500 acquired samples, 307 (61.4%) had genetic material from at least one tested pathogen. Our research suggests that L. fortisetosa may be a potential vector of several pathogens, including A. phagocytophilum, Babesia spp., Bartonella spp., Borellia spp., Coxiella-like endosymbionts, Francisiella tularensis, Mycoplasma spp., Rickettsia spp., and Theileria spp.; however, further, more extensive investigations are required to confirm this. The results of the study indicate that keds can be used as biological markers for investigating the prevalence of vector-borne diseases in the population of free-ranging cervids.

The Potential of Systemic Control of Sand Flies Using Fipronil in the Novel Leishmania major (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) Reservoirs Meriones tristrami (Rodentia: Muridea) and Meriones crassus (Rodentia: Muridea)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ido Tsurim ◽  
Gideon Wasserberg ◽  
Gil Ben Natan ◽  
Zvika Abramsky
Keyword(s):  
Leishmania Major ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Sand Flies ◽  
Transmission Cycle ◽  
Systemic Control ◽  
Reservoir Species ◽  
Meriones Tristrami

Abstract Leishmania major (Yakimoff & Schokhor, 1914), an important causative agent of Old World Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL), is transmitted by sand flies among a limited number of gerbilline reservoir-species. We can take advantage of this strong dependency to break the pathogen transmission cycle by using systemic insecticides that render the host toxic to the blood-feeding vector. We evaluated the potential of this approach with two novel reservoir species, incriminated for CL expansion in several sites in the Middle East. Specifically, we evaluated: 1) the residuality of the systemic insecticide fipronil in Meriones tristrami (Thomas, 1892) fed on fipronil-treated baits and 2) the treatments’ adulticide effect on sand flies that blood fed on treated and untreated M. tristrami and M. crassus (Sundevall, 1842). We fed M. tristrami with food pellets containing 0.1 g/kg fipronil and used gas chromatograph–mass spectrometery analysis and bioassays to examine its residual toxicity to blood-feeding female sand flies. In M. tristrami, fipronil was rapidly metabolized to fipronil sulfone, found in the blood, urine, and feces for ≥31 d after fipronil admission. The survival of sand flies that blood fed on fipronil-treated M. tristrami and M. crassus was significantly reduced for at least 15 and 9 d respectively, after fipronil admission. These results hold promise for the potential contribution of systemic control approaches to CL integrated management strategies against novel CL (due to L. major) outbreaks in Israel and elsewhere.

scholarly journals Blood-feeding ecology of mosquitoes in two zoological gardens in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arturo Hernandez-Colina ◽  
Merit Gonzalez-Olvera ◽  
Emily Lomax ◽  
Freya Townsend ◽  
Amber Maddox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Host Species ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Mosquito Control ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Host Feeding ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Generalized Linear Modelling ◽  
Blood Meals

Abstract Background Zoological gardens contain unique configurations of exotic and endemic animals and plants that create a diverse range of developing sites and potential sources of blood meals for local mosquitoes. This may imply unusual interspecific pathogen transmission risks involving zoo vertebrates, like avian malaria to captive penguins. Understanding mosquito ecology and host feeding patterns is necessary to improve mosquito control and disease prevention measures in these environments. Methods Mosquito sampling took place in Chester Zoo for 3 years (2017, 2018, and 2019) and for 1 year in Flamingo Land (2017) using different trapping methods. Blood-fed mosquitoes were identified and their blood meal was amplified by PCR, sequenced, and blasted for host species identification. Results In total, 640 blood-fed mosquitoes were collected [Culex pipiens (n = 497), Culiseta annulata (n = 81), Anopheles maculipennis s.l. (n = 7), An. claviger (n = 1), and unidentifiable (n = 55)]. Successful identification of the host species was achieved from 159 blood-fed mosquitoes. Mosquitoes fed on birds (n = 74), non-human mammals (n = 20), and humans (n = 71). There were mixed blood meals from two hosts (n = 6). The proportions of blood-fed mosquitoes varied across sampling seasons and sites within the zoos. The use of resting traps and aspiration of vegetation were more efficient techniques for capturing blood-fed mosquitoes than traps for host-seeking or gravid mosquitoes. By relating the locations of zoo vertebrates to where fed mosquitoes were trapped, the minimum travelling distances were calculated (13.7 to 366.7 m). Temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, proximity to zoo vertebrate exhibits, and vegetation level were found to be significantly associated with the proportion of captured blood-fed mosquitoes by generalized linear modelling. Conclusions Mosquito feeding behaviour in zoos is mainly influenced by time, location (sampling area), temperature, and host availability, which highlights the value of mosquito monitoring in complex settings to plan control strategies and potentially reduce inherent disease transmission risks for humans and threatened zoo vertebrates. Graphic abstract

scholarly journals Modulation of odour-guided behaviour in mosquitoes

2021 ◽  
Vol 383 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-206
Author(s):  
Sharon R. Hill ◽  
Rickard Ignell
Keyword(s):  
Functional Genomics ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Extrinsic Factors ◽  
Intrinsic Factors ◽  
Host Seeking ◽  
Enhancing Resources ◽  
Maturation Age ◽  
Behavioural Repertoire

AbstractMosquitoes are emerging as model systems with which to study innate behaviours through neuroethology and functional genomics. Decades of work on these disease vectors have provided a solid behavioural framework describing the distinct repertoire of predominantly odour-mediated behaviours of female mosquitoes, and their dependence on life stage (intrinsic factors) and environmental cues (extrinsic factors). The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of how intrinsic factors, including adult maturation, age, nutritional status, and infection, affect the attraction to plants and feeding on plant fluids, host seeking, blood feeding, supplemental feeding behaviours, pre-oviposition behaviour, and oviposition in female mosquitoes. With the technological advancements in the recent two decades, we have gained a better understanding of which volatile organic compounds are used by mosquitoes to recognise and discriminate among various fitness-enhancing resources, and characterised their neural and molecular correlates. In this review, we present the state of the art of the peripheral olfactory system as described by the neural physiology, functional genomics, and genetics underlying the demonstrated changes in the behavioural repertoire in female mosquitoes. The review is meant as a summary introduction to the current conceptual thinking in the field.

scholarly journals A minimal 3D model of mosquito flight behaviour around the human baited bed net

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Jones ◽  
Gregory P D Murray ◽  
Philip J McCall
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Video Tracking ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Bed Nets ◽  
State Transitions ◽  
Bed Net ◽  
Flight Behaviour ◽  
Individual Agent ◽  
Host Seeking ◽  
Mosquito Behaviour

Abstract Background Advances in digitized video-tracking and behavioural analysis have enabled accurate recording and quantification of mosquito flight and host-seeking behaviours, facilitating development of individual (agent) based models at much finer spatial scales than previously possible. Methods Quantified behavioural parameters were used to create a novel virtual testing model, capable of accurately simulating indoor flight behaviour by a virtual population of host-seeking mosquitoes as they interact with and respond to simulated stimuli from a human-occupied bed net. The model is described, including base mosquito behaviour, state transitions, environmental representation and host stimulus representation. Results In the absence of a bed net and human host bait, flight distribution of the model population was relatively uniform throughout the arena. Introducing an unbaited untreated bed net induced a change in distribution with an increase in landing events on the net surface, predominantly on the sides of the net. Adding the presence of a simulated human bait dramatically impacted flight distribution patterns, exploratory foraging and, the number and distribution of landing positions on the net, which were determined largely by the orientation of the human within. The model replicates experimental results with free-flying living mosquitoes at human-occupied bed nets, where contact occurs predominantly on the top surface of the net. This accuracy is important as it quantifies exposure to the lethal insecticide residues that may be unique to the net roof (or theoretically any other surface). Number of net contacts and height of contacts decreased with increasing attractant dispersal noise. Conclusions Results generated by the model are an accurate representation of actual mosquito behaviour recorded at and around a human-occupied bed net in untreated and insecticide-treated nets. This fine-grained model is highly flexible and has significant potential for in silico screening of novel bed net designs, potentially reducing time and cost and accelerating the deployment of new and more effective tools for protecting against malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.

Host behaviour, age and sex correlate with ectoparasite prevalence and intensity in a colonial mammal, the little brown bat

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quinn M.R. Webber ◽  
Liam P. McGuire ◽  
Steven B. Smith ◽  
Craig K.R. Willis
Keyword(s):  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Myotis Lucifugus ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Wildlife Diseases ◽  
Colonial Species ◽  
Host Seeking ◽  
Host Sex ◽  
Little Brown Bat ◽  
Host Behaviour ◽  
Age And Sex

The influence of behaviour on host-parasite dynamics has theoretical support but few empirical studies have examined this influence for wild-captured hosts, especially in colonial species, which are thought to face generally high risk of exposure. Behavioural tendencies of hosts in novel environments could mediate host exposure. We tested the hypothesis that behavioural tendencies of hosts, and host sex and age, correlate with prevalence and intensity of ectoparasites in a gregarious mammal, the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus). We also tested whether relationships between host behaviour and parasite prevalence and intensity would vary between taxa of ectoparasites which differ in host-seeking behaviour. We predicted that individual hosts displaying active and explorative behaviours would have higher prevalence and intensity of parasites that depend on physical contact among hosts for transmission (mites) but that host behaviour would not influence prevalence and intensity of mobile ectoparasites with active host-seeking behaviour (fleas). We recorded behavioural responses of wild-captured bats in a novel-environment test and then sampled each individual for ectoparasites. After accounting for age and sex we found mixed support for our hypotheses in some but not all demographics. More active adult and young of the year (YOY) males were more likely to host mites while more active adult and YOY females were less likely to host fleas. Our results highlight possible differences in the influence of host and parasite behaviour on parasite transmission dynamics for colonial compared to non-colonial species and have conservation implications for understanding pathogen transmission in bat white-nose syndrome and other wildlife diseases.

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