Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T16:37:29.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Methods for detecting multiple blood-meals in mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

P. F. L. Boreham  and
J. K. Lenahan
P. F. L. Boreham*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, U.K..
J. K. Lenahan
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, U.K..
*
* Address for correspondence: Imperial College Field Station, Silwood Park, Ascot Berkshire, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two techniques have been developed to investigate the incidence of multiple feeding by mosquitoes. One system detects the ABO blood group substances and can be used up to 24 h after feeding in the case of Anopheles stephensi List. and 30 h for Aedes aegypti (L.). It is limited by cross-reactions which develop between blood group substances as digestion occurs in the stomach of the mosquito. The second system detects the serum protein haptoglobins (Hp) and it is possible to detect the Hp type of blood in single feeds 20 h after feeding for Ae. aegypti and 16 h for A. stephensi. Multiple feeds taken within a short time of each other can be identified up to 16 h after completion of the meal. The minimum amount of blood necessary to effect an identification in a fresh two-part meal is 0·1 mg, which is approximately one-tenth of the total amount of blood taken. It is now therefore possible to measure multiple ‘cryptic meals’ taken from man, if they are of different Hp types. Identification of Hp from A. gambiae sp. A blood-meals has been successfully carried out using material sent from the tropics. Limitations of the techniques as applied to field collections are discussed.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 66 , Issue 4 , December 1976 , pp. 671 - 679
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baxter, S. J. & Rees, B. (1974). Simultaneous haptoglobin and haemoglobin typing of blood and bloodstains using gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.—Medicine Sci. Law 14, 231–236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boreham, P. F. L. (1975). Some applications of bloodmeal identifications in relation to the epidemiology of vector-borne tropical diseases.—J. trop. Med. Hyg. 78, 83–91.Google Scholar
Boreham, P. F. L. & Garrett-Jones, C. (1973). Prevalence of mixed blood meals and double feeding in a malaria vector (Anopheles sacharovi Favre).—Bull. Wld Hlth Org. 48, 605–614.Google Scholar
Boyd, M. F. (1949). Epidemiology: factors related to the definitive host.—pp. 608–697 in Malariology (Boyd, M. F., ed.), Vol. I, 787 pp. London, Saunders.Google Scholar
Clyde, D. F. & Shute, G. T. (1955). A technique for the investigation of mosquito preferences on man.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 49, 64–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howard, H. D. & Martin, P. D. (1969). An improved method for ABO and MN grouping of dried bloodstains using cellulose acetate sheets.—J. forens. Sci. Soc. 9, 28–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Humphrey, J. H. & White, R. G. (1970). Immunology for students of Medicine.—3rd edn, 757 pp. Oxford, Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Judson, C. L.(1967). Feeding and oviposition behaviour in the mosquito Aedes aegypti (L.). I.—Preliminary studies of physiological control mechanisms.—Biol. Bull. mar. biol. Lab., Woods Hole 133, 369–377.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lavoipierre, M. M. J. (1958). Biting behaviour of mated and unmated females of an African strain of Aedes aegypti.—Nature, Lond. 181, 1781–1782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClelland, G. A. H. & Conway, G. R. (1971). Frequency of blood feeding in the mosquito Aedes aegypti.—Nature, Lond. 232, 485–486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCrae, A. W. R. (1972). Age composition of man-biting Aedes (Stegomyia) simpsoni (Theobald) (Diptera: Culicidae) in Bwamba County, Uganda.—J. med. Entomol. 9, 545–550.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muirhead-Thomson, R. C. (1951). The distribution of Anopheline mosquito bites among different age groups. A new factor in malaria epidemiology.—Br. med. J. 1, 1114–1117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stedman, R. (1972). Human population frequencies in twelve blood grouping systems.—J. forens. Sci. Soc. 12, 379–413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sutton, H. E. (1970). The haptoglobins.—Prog. Med. Genet. 7, 163–216.Google ScholarPubMed
Thomas, T. C. E. (1951). Biting activity of Anopheles gambiae.—Br. med. J. 2, 1402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weitz, B. (1956). Identification of bloodmeals of blood-sucking arthropods.—Bull. Wld Hlth Org. 15, 473–490.Google Scholar
White, G. B. & Jacobson, R. L. (1972). ABO and rhesus blood grouping of insect bloodmeals of human origin.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 66, 534–535.Google Scholar
Wood, C. S. (1974). Preferential feeding of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes on human subjects of blood group 0: a relationship between ABO polymorphism and malaria vectors.—Human Biology 46, 385–404.Google Scholar
Wood, C. S., Harrison, G. A., Dore, C. & Weiner, J. S. (1972). Selective feeding of Anopheles gambiae according to ABO blood group status.—Nature, Lond. 239, 165–167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed