Mammalophilic feeding behaviour of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes collected in the cities of Chetumal and Cancun, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. Issue 11 (28th August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Janssen, Nele; Fernandez‐Salas, Ildefonso; Díaz González, Esteban Eduardo; Gaytan‐Burns, Alejandro; Medina‐de la Garza, Carlos E.; Sanchez‐Casas, Rosa María; Börstler, Jessica; Cadar, Daniel; Schmidt‐Chanasit, Jonas; Jöst, Hanna
• Is Part Of: Tropical medicine & international health. Volume 20:Issue 11(2015:Nov.)
• Page Start: 1488
• Page End: 1491
• Publication Date: 2015-08-28
• Subjects: Tropical medicine -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 616.988
• DOI: 10.1111/tmi.12587
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1360-2276

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="tmi12587-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="tmi12587-sec-1001" sec-type="section"> <title>Objective</title> <p>The studie describes the blood‐feeding behaviour of mosquitoes in Mexico, to understand host–vector relationships and dynamics of disease transmission.</p> </sec> <sec id="tmi12587-sec-1002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>From September 2012 to November 2012 and in November 2013, 911 blood‐fed <italic>Cx. quinquefasciatus</italic> mosquitoes were collected with aspirators inside houses in Chetumal and Cancun. Blood meals were analysed by PCR and subsequent Sanger sequencing of the cytochrome b gene.</p> </sec> <sec id="tmi12587-sec-1003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>93.3% of mosquitoes fed on mammals, 6.5% on birds and 0.2% on reptiles. The most frequent vertebrate hosts were humans (65.4%), dogs (23.2%), chicken (5.4%), cattle (2.2%) and cats (1.8%).</p> </sec> <sec id="tmi12587-sec-1004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p> <italic>Cx. quinquefasciatus</italic> most frequently fed on humans and dogs in both studied cities, which is in contrast to a previous study that demonstrated lower prevalence of mammalian blood in engorged <italic>Cx. quinquefasciatus</italic>.</p> </sec> </abstract>