Experimental determination of the force of malaria infection reveals a non-linear relationship to mosquito sporozoite loads.

ABSTRACT: Plasmodium sporozoites are the infective stage of the malaria parasite. Though this is a bottleneck for the parasite, the quantitative dynamics of transmission, from mosquito inoculation of sporozoites to patent blood-stage infection in the mammalian host, are poorly understood. Here we utilize a rodent model to determine the probability of malaria infection after infectious mosquito bite, and consider the impact of mosquito parasite load, blood-meal acquisition, probe-time, and probe location, on infection probability. We found that infection likelihood correlates with mosquito sporozoite load and, to a lesser degree, the duration of probing, and is not dependent upon the mosquito's ability to find blood. The relationship between sporozoite load and infection probability is non-linear and

SUBMITTER: Aleshnick M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7295235 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature