Blood Feeding Patterns of <I>Aedes aegypti</I> and <I>Aedes albopictus</I> in Thailand

We tested a nootkatone product for insecticide activity against the most prominent vectors of Zika virus (ZIKV), Aedes aegypti, and Aedes albopictus. We tested the permethrin-resistant (PERM-R) Vergel strain of A. aegypti and the permethrin-susceptible (PERM-S) New Orleans strain of A. aegypti to determine if insecticide resistance affected their susceptibility to nootkatone. Bottle bioassays showed that the PERM-S strain (New Orleans) was more susceptible to nootkatone than the confirmed A. aegypti permethrin-resistant (PERM-R) strain, Vergel. The A. albopictus strain ATM-NJ95 was a known PERM-S strain and Coatzacoalcos permethrin susceptibility was unknown but proved to be similar to the ATM-NJ95 PERM-S phenotype. The A. albopictus strains (ATM-NJ95 and Coatzacoalcos) were as susceptible to nootkatone as the New Orleans strain. Bottle bioassays conducted with ZIKV-infected mosquitoes showed that the New Orleans (PERM-S) strain was as susceptible to nootkatone as the mock-infected controls, but the PERM-R strain was less susceptible to nootkatone than the mock-infected controls. Repellency/irritancy and biting inhibition bioassays (RIBB) of A. aegypti determined whether the nootkatone-treated arms of three human subjects prevented uninfected A. aegypti mosquitoes from being attracted to the test subjects and blood-feeding on them. The RIBB analyses data calculated the spatial activity index (SAI) and biting inhibition factor (BI) of A. aegypti at different nootkatone concentrations and then compared the SAI and BI of existing repellency products. We concluded that nootkatone repelled mosquitoes at a rate comparable to 7% DEET or 5% picaridin and has the potential to be an efficacious repellent against adult A. aegypti mosquitoes.

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The effects of host availability and fitness on Aedes albopictus blood feeding patterns in New York

10.1101/2021.05.13.443995 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kara M Fikrig ◽

Elisabeth Martin ◽

Sharon Dang ◽

Kimberly St Fleur ◽

Henry Goldsmith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Aedes Albopictus ◽

Long Island ◽

Blood Feeding ◽

Camera Traps ◽

Population Variation ◽

Island Population ◽

Host Feeding ◽

Feeding Patterns ◽

Host Availability

Aedes albopictus is a competent vector of numerous pathogens, representing a range of transmission cycles involving unique hosts. Despite the important status of this vector, variation in its feeding patterns is poorly understood. We examined the feeding patterns of Ae. albopictus utilizing resting collections in Long Island, New York, and contextualized blood meal sources with host availability measured by household interviews and camera traps. We identified 90 blood meals, including 29 human, 22 cat, 16 horse, 12 opossum, 5 dog, 2 goat, and 1 rabbit, rat, squirrel and raccoon. Our study is the first to quantitatively assess Ae. albopictus feeding patterns in the context of host availability of wild animals in addition to humans and domestic animals. Host feeding indices showed that cats and dogs were fed upon disproportionately often compared to humans. Forage ratios suggested a tendency to feed on cats and opossums and to avoid raccoons, squirrels, and birds. This feeding pattern was different from another published study from Baltimore, where Ae. albopictus fed more often on rats than humans. To understand if these differences were due to host availability or mosquito population variation, we compared the fitness of Long Island and Baltimore Ae. albopictus after feeding on rat and human blood. In addition, we examined fitness within the Long Island population after feeding on human, rat, cat, horse, and opossum blood. Together, our results do not show major mosquito fitness differences by blood hosts, suggesting that fitness benefits do not drive Northeastern Ae. albopictus feeding patterns.

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Sugar feeding patterns of New York Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are affected by saturation deficit, flowers, and host seeking

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽

10.1371/journal.pntd.0008244 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. e0008244

Author(s):

Kara Fikrig ◽

Sonile Peck ◽

Peter Deckerman ◽

Sharon Dang ◽

Kimberly St Fleur ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Feeding Behavior ◽

Aedes Albopictus ◽

Blood Feeding ◽

Public Health Importance ◽

Feeding Patterns ◽

Saturation Deficit ◽

Sugar Feeding ◽

Host Seeking ◽

The Impact

Background Sugar feeding is an important behavior which may determine vector potential of female mosquitoes. Sugar meals can reduce blood feeding frequency, enhance survival, and decrease fecundity, as well as provide energetic reserves to fuel energy intensive behaviors such as mating and host seeking. Sugar feeding behavior can be harnessed for vector control (e.g. attractive toxic sugar baits). Few studies have addressed sugar feeding of Aedes albopictus, a vector of arboviruses of public health importance, including dengue and Zika viruses. To address this knowledge gap, we assessed sugar feeding patterns of Ae. albopictus for the first time in its invasive northeastern USA range. Methodology/Principal findings Using the cold anthrone fructose assay with robust sample sizes, we demonstrated that a large percentage of both male (49.6%) and female (41.8%) Ae. albopictus fed on plant or homopteran derived sugar sources within 24 hrs prior to capture. Our results suggest that sugar feeding behavior increases when environmental conditions are dry (high saturation deficit) and may vary by behavioral status (host seeking vs. resting). Furthermore, mosquitoes collected on properties with flowers (>3 blooms) had higher fructose concentrations compared to those collected from properties with few to no flowers (0–3). Conclusions/Significance Our results provide the first evidence of Ae. albopictus sugar feeding behavior in the Northeastern US and reveal relatively high rates of sugar feeding. These results suggest the potential success for regional deployment of toxic sugar baits. In addition, we demonstrate the impact of several environmental and mosquito parameters (saturation deficit, presence of flowers, host seeking status, and sex) on sugar feeding. Placing sugar feeding behavior in the context of these environmental and mosquito parameters provides further insight into spatiotemporal dynamics of feeding behavior for Ae. albopictus, and in turn, provides information for evidence-based control decisions.

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Blood-Feeding Patterns of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Collected in a Rural Thai Village

Journal of Medical Entomology ◽

10.1093/jmedent/30.5.922 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 30 (5) ◽

pp. 922-927 ◽

Cited By ~ 153

Author(s):

Thomas W. Scott ◽

Esther Chow ◽

Daniel Strickman ◽

Pattamaporn Kittayapong ◽

Robert A. Wirtz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aedes Aegypti ◽

Blood Feeding ◽

Feeding Patterns

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Evaluation of Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus Mosquitoes Competence to Oropouche virus Infection

Viruses ◽

10.3390/v13050755 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 755

Author(s):

Silvana F. de Mendonça ◽

Marcele N. Rocha ◽

Flávia V. Ferreira ◽

Thiago H. J. F Leite ◽

Siad C. G. Amadou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aedes Aegypti ◽

Aedes Albopictus ◽

Culex Quinquefasciatus ◽

Mosquito Species ◽

Blood Feeding ◽

Viral Pathogens ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

Vertebrate Hosts ◽

Geographic Expansion ◽

Immunocompromised Mice

The emergence of new human viral pathogens and re-emergence of several diseases are of particular concern in the last decades. Oropouche orthobunyavirus (OROV) is an arbovirus endemic to South and Central America tropical regions, responsible to several epidemic events in the last decades. There is little information regarding the ability of OROV to be transmitted by urban/peri-urban mosquitoes, which has limited the predictability of the emergence of permanent urban transmission cycles. Here, we evaluated the ability of OROV to infect, replicate, and be transmitted by three anthropophilic and urban species of mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus. We show that OROV is able to infect and efficiently replicate when systemically injected in all three species tested, but not when orally ingested. Moreover, we find that, once OROV replication has occurred in the mosquito body, all three species were able to transmit the virus to immunocompromised mice during blood feeding. These data provide evidence that OROV is restricted by the midgut barrier of three major urban mosquito species, but, if this restriction is overcome, could be efficiently transmitted to vertebrate hosts. This poses a great risk for the emergence of permanent urban cycles and geographic expansion of OROV to other continents.

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