Molecular Identification of Mammalian Blood Meals in Mosquito Vectors in Nile Delta, Egypt

Abstract

The degree of contact of the vector and the vertebrate host is an important variable in determining the vectorial capacity of mosquito species for the arthropod-borne disease. This study conducted in Monufia Governorate, Egypt, to describe the mosquito community composition and species-specific host-feeding patterns. Mosquitoes were surveyed over a 2-years period and their host-feeding patterns were determined in relation to species relative abundance by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).This diagnostic technique was used to identify mammalian blood meals from female mosquitoes by sized DNA fragments following agarose gel electrophoresis. One universal reverse primer and five animal-specific forward primers included Human, Pig, Cow, Dog and Goat were used. Multiple blood meals from distinctive mammalian hosts were identified from single mosquito abdomens. Ninety-nine mosquito blood meals from four mosquito species were identified, 67.7% (67) were mixed blood. Both Cx. pipiens and Cx. antennatus fed on human and animals but feeding strategies differed from outdoors to indoors. Inside houses engorged female Cx. pipiens accounted for (94) 74% of collections and out of this, 53.8% fed on humans as single blood and 40% as mixed blood. However, outdoor, collected Ochlerotatus caspius constituted 7.1% of the collected females. Results suggested that, Cx. pipiens an important bridge of disease vector to humans in Egypt.