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Urbanization impact on mosquito community and the transmission potential of filarial infection in central Europe.

ABSTRACT: Despite long-term research on dirofilariosis in Slovakia, little attention has thus far been paid to Dirofilaria vectors. The particular aim of the present study was molecular screening for filarioid parasites in two different habitats of Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. In addition, the effect of urbanisation on mosquito species abundance and composition, associated with the risk of mosquito-borne infections, was studied and discussed.Mosquitoes were identified by morphological features, and molecular methods were also used for determination of selected individuals belonging to cryptic species from the Anopheles maculipennis and Culex pipiens complexes. The presence of filarioid DNA (Dirofilaria repens, Dirofilaria immitis and Setaria spp.) was detected using standard PCR approaches and sequencing.A total of 6957 female mosquitoes were collected for the study. Overall, the most abundant mosquito species was Aedes vexans, closely followed by unidentified members of the Cx. pipiens complex and the less numerous but still plentiful Ochlerotatus sticticus species. Further investigation of mosquito material revealed 4.26% relative prevalence of Dirofilaria spp., whereby both species, D. repens and D. immitis, were identified. The majority of positive mosquito pools had their origin in a floodplain area on the outskirts of the city, with a relative prevalence of 5.32%; only two mosquito pools (1.26%) were shown to be positive in the residential zone of Bratislava. Setaria spp. DNA was not detected in mosquitoes within this study.The study presented herein represents initial research focused on molecular mosquito screening for filarioid parasites in urban and urban-fringe habitats of Bratislava, Slovakia. Molecular analyses within the Cx. pipiens complex identified two biotypes: Cx. pipiens biotype pipiens and Cx. pipiens biotype molestus. To our knowledge, Dirofilaria spp. were detected for the first time in Slovakia in mosquitoes other than Ae. vexans, i.e. D. repens in Anopheles messeae and unidentified members of An. maculipennis and Cx. pipiens complexes, and D. immitis in Coquillettidia richiardii and Cx. pipiens biotype pipiens. Both dirofilarial species were found in Och. sticticus. The suitable conditions for the vectors' biology would represent the main risk factor for dirofilariosis transmission.

SUBMITTER: Cabanova V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5937826 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Urbanization impact on mosquito community and the transmission potential of filarial infection in central Europe.

Čabanová Viktória V Miterpáková Martina M Valentová Daniela D Blažejová Hana H Rudolf Ivo I Stloukal Eduard E Hurníková Zuzana Z Dzidová Marianna M

Parasites & vectors 20180424 1

<h4>Background</h4>Despite long-term research on dirofilariosis in Slovakia, little attention has thus far been paid to Dirofilaria vectors. The particular aim of the present study was molecular screening for filarioid parasites in two different habitats of Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. In addition, the effect of urbanisation on mosquito species abundance and composition, associated with the risk of mosquito-borne infections, was studied and discussed.<h4>Methods</h4>Mosquitoes were ...[more]

PMID: 29690912

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Project description:BackgroundTo monitor adult mosquitoes several trapping devices are available. These are differently constructed and use various mechanisms for mosquito attraction, thus resulting in different trapping sensitivities and efficacies for the various species. Mosquito monitoring and surveillance programs in Europe use various types of mosquito traps, but only a few comparisons have been conducted so far. This study compared the performance of four commercial trapping devices, which are commonly used in Europe.MethodsFour different traps, Biogents Sentinel trap (BG trap), Heavy Duty Encephalitis Vector Survey trap (EVS trap), Centres for Disease Control miniature light trap (CDC trap) and Mosquito Magnet Patriot Mosquito trap (MM trap) were compared in a 4?×?4 latin square study. In the years 2012 and 2013, more than seventy 24-hour trap comparisons were conducted at ten different locations in northern and southern Germany, representing urban, forest and floodplain biotopes.ResultsPer 24-hour trapping period, the BG trap caught the widest range of mosquito species, the highest number of individuals of the genus Culex as well as the highest number of individuals of the species Ochlerotatus cantans, Aedes cinereus/geminus, Oc. communis and Culex pipiens/torrentium. The CDC trap revealed best performance for Aedes vexans, whereas the MM trap was most efficient for mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles and the species Oc. geniculatus. The EVS trap did not catch more individuals of any genus or species compared to the other three trapping devices. The BG trap caught the highest number of individuals per trapping period in urban environments as well as in wet forest, while the CDC trap caught the highest number of individuals in the floodplain biotopes. Additionally, the BG trap was most efficient for the number of mosquito species in urban locations.ConclusionThe BG trap showed a significantly better or similar performance compared to the CDC, EVS or MM trap with regard to trapping efficacy for most common mosquito species in Germany, including diversity of mosquito species and number of mosquitoes per trapping period. Thus, the BG trap is probably the best solution for general monitoring or surveillance programs of adult mosquitoes in Central Europe.

Project description:Armigeres subalbatus is a natural vector of the filarial worm Brugia pahangi, but it kills Brugia malayi microfilariae (mf) by melanotic encapsulation. Because B. malayi and B. pahangi are morphologically and biologically similar, this mosquito-parasite system serves as a valuable model for studying resistance mechanisms in mosquito vectors. Comparing Ar. subalbatus-B. pahangi susceptibility and Ar. subalbatus-B. malayi refractoriness could provide significant insight into recognition mechanisms required to mount an effective anti-filarial worm immune response in the mosquito, as well as provide considerable detail into the molecular components involved in vector competence. Accordingly, we initiated transcriptome profiling studies of Ar. subalbatus in relation to filarial worm infection to provide information on the molecular components involved in B. pahangi susceptibility for comparison with our earlier studies on B. malayi refractoriness (Aliota et al., 2007). In addition, these studies also provide information on the infection response of a natural vector, i.e., the overall transcriptional and physiological change that occurs in the mosquito as a result of parasite infection, for comparison with our previous studies that employed a highly susceptible laboratory model, Aedes aegypti (Erickson et al., 2009). The time course chosen facilitated an examination of key events in the development of the parasite, beginning with the very start of filarial worm infection and spanning to well after infective-stage parasites had completed development in the mosquito. Herein, we demonstrate that filarial worm susceptibility in Ar. subalbatus is a highly complex process during the first 24 hours of infection. It is a process that involves many factors of both known and unknown function which are most likely associated with filarial worm penetration through the midgut lumen, invasion into thoracic muscle cells, and maintenance of homeostasis in the hemolymph environment. The data show that there are distinct and separate transcriptional patterns associated with filarial worm susceptibility as compared to refractoriness, and that an infection response in Ar. subalbatus, a natural vector, can differ significantly from that observed in Ae. aegypti, a common laboratory model. Finally, the data presented herein provide us with a cadre of information to design wet lab experiments and select candidates for further study to more fully dissect the nature of the anti-filarial worm immune response in this mosquito-parasite system.

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Urbanization impact on mosquito community and the transmission potential of filarial infection in central Europe.

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Urbanization impact on mosquito community and the transmission potential of filarial infection in central Europe.

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