Increased endophily by the malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis in southern Zambia and identification of digested blood meals.

ABSTRACT: An increase in Anopheles arabiensis showing endophilic behavior was observed in Macha, Zambia during March 2007. To determine whether this shift in resting behavior was accompanied by a change in feeding preference, an attempt was made to calculate the human blood index. However, only 46.2% of blood meals were successfully identified with existing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostics. This failure was hypothesized to be caused by the limitations of existing methods that are not capable of identifying host source from anophelines resting for extended time periods. Using an assay we developed that allows for the identification of mammalian host DNA out to 60 hours post-feeding, we were able to successfully determine the host source of 94.3% of recovered blood meals. The data show that

SUBMITTER: Fornadel CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4147109 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature