"Show me which parasites you carry and I will tell you what you eat", or how to infer the trophic behavior of hematophagous arthropods feeding on wildlife.

ABSTRACT: Most emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses originating from wildlife among which vector-borne diseases constitute a major risk for global human health. Understanding the transmission routes of mosquito-borne pathogens in wildlife crucially depends on recording mosquito blood-feeding patterns. During an extensive longitudinal survey to study sylvatic anophelines in two wildlife reserves in Gabon, we collected 2,415 mosquitoes of which only 0.3% were blood-fed. The molecular analysis of the blood meals contained in guts indicated that all the engorged mosquitoes fed on wild ungulates. This direct approach gave only limited insights into the trophic behavior of the captured mosquitoes. Therefore, we developed a complementary indirect approach that exploits the occurrence of natural infect

SUBMITTER: Makanga B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5632637 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature