Dataset Information

The Effects of Host Availability and Fitness on Aedes albopictus Blood Feeding Patterns in New York.

ABSTRACT: 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, NY, and contextualized blood meal sources with host availability measured by household interviews and camera traps. We identified 90 blood meals, including 29 humans, 22 cats, 16 horses, 12 opossums, 5 dogs, 2 goats, and 1 each of rabbit, rat, squirrel, and raccoon. This is only the third study of Ae. albopictus blood feeding biology that quantitatively assessed domestic host availability and is the first to do so with wild animals. Host feeding indices showed that cats and dogs were fed upon disproportionately often compared with 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 whether these differences were because of host availability or mosquito population variation, we compared the fitness of New York and Baltimore Ae. albopictus after feeding on rat and human blood. In addition, we examined fitness within the New York population after feeding on human, rat, cat, horse, and opossum blood. Together, our results do not indicate major mosquito fitness differences by blood hosts, suggesting that fitness benefits do not drive Northeastern Ae. albopictus feeding patterns.

SUBMITTER: Fikrig K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8733534 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Effects of Host Availability and Fitness on Aedes albopictus Blood Feeding Patterns in New York.

Fikrig Kara K Martin Elisabeth E Dang Sharon S St Fleur Kimberly K Goldsmith Henry H Qu Sophia S Rosenthal Hannah H Pitcher Sylvie S Harrington Laura C LC

The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 20211018 1

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, NY, and contextualized blood meal sources with host availability measured by household interviews and camera traps. We identified 90 blood meals, including 29 humans, 22 ca ...[more]

PMID: 34662859

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Project description:BackgroundAedes albopictus is an invasive species which continues expanding its geographic range and involvement in mosquito-borne diseases such as chikungunya and dengue. Host selection patterns by invasive mosquitoes are critically important because they increase endemic disease transmission and drive outbreaks of exotic pathogens. Traditionally, Ae. albopictus has been characterized as an opportunistic feeder, primarily feeding on mammalian hosts but occasionally acquiring blood from avian sources as well. However, limited information is available on their feeding patterns in temperate regions of their expanded range. Because of the increasing expansion and abundance of Ae. albopictus and the escalating diagnoses of exotic pathogens in travelers returning from endemic areas, we investigated the host feeding patterns of this species in newly invaded areas to further shed light on its role in disease ecology and assess the public health threat of an exotic arbovirus outbreak.Methodology/principal findingsWe identified the vertebrate source of 165 blood meals in Ae. albopictus collected between 2008 and 2011 from urban and suburban areas in northeastern USA. We used a network of Biogents Sentinel traps, which enhance Ae. albopictus capture counts, to conduct our collections of blooded mosquitoes. We also analyzed blooded Culex mosquitoes collected alongside Ae. albopictus in order to examine the composition of the community of blood sources. We found no evidence of bias since as expected Culex blood meals were predominantly from birds (n = 149, 93.7%) with only a small proportion feeding on mammals (n = 10, 6.3%). In contrast, Aedes albopictus fed exclusively on mammalian hosts with over 90% of their blood meals derived from humans (n = 96, 58.2%) and domesticated pets (n = 38, 23.0% cats; and n = 24, 14.6% dogs). Aedes albopictus fed from humans significantly more often in suburban than in urban areas (?(2), p = 0.004) and cat-derived blood meals were greater in urban habitats (?(2), p = 0.022). Avian-derived blood meals were not detected in any of the Ae. albopictus tested.Conclusions/significanceThe high mammalian affinity of Ae. albopictus suggests that this species will be an efficient vector of mammal- and human-driven zoonoses such as La Crosse, dengue, and chikungunya viruses. The lack of blood meals obtained from birds by Ae. albopictus suggest that this species may have limited exposure to endemic avian zoonoses such as St. Louis encephalitis and West Nile virus, which already circulate in the USA. However, growing populations of Ae. albopictus in major metropolitan urban and suburban centers, make a large autochthonous outbreak of an arbovirus such as chikungunya or dengue viruses a clear and present danger. Given the difficulties of Ae. albopictus suppression, we recommend that public health practitioners and policy makers install proactive measures for the imminent mitigation of an exotic pathogen outbreak.

Project description:BackgroundAedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse) is an indigenous species and the predominant vector of dengue fever in China. Understanding of genetic diversity and structure of the mosquito would facilitate dengue prevention and vector control. Sympatric cryptic species have been identified in the Ae. albopictus subgroup in Southeast Asia; however, little is known about the presence and distribution of cryptic species in China. This study aimed to examine the genetic diversity, evaluate potential new cryptic sibling species, and assess the prevalence of Wolbachia infections in field populations.MethodsAedes adult female specimens were collected from five provinces in southern and central China during 2015-2016. Morphological identification was performed under dissection microscope. The mitochondrial DNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1, DNA barcoding) locus and the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS2) marker were used to examine the genetic variation, evaluate cryptic sibling species, and population structure in the field populations. Screening for the presence of Wolbachia was performed using multiplex PCR.ResultsA total of 140 individual specimens with morphological characteristics similar to Ae. albopictus were sequenced for DNA barcoding. Among these, 129 specimens (92.1%) were confirmed and identified as Ae. albopictus. The remaining 11 specimens, from 2 provinces, were identified as 2 distinct sequence groups, which were confirmed by ITS2 marker sequencing, suggesting the existence of potential cryptic species of Ae. albopictus. In Ae. albopictus, we found significant genetic differentiation and population structure between populations collected from different climate zones. Medium to high frequencies of Wolbachia infections were observed in natural Ae. albopictus populations, whereas Wolbachia was infrequent or absent in cryptic species populations.ConclusionsOur findings highlight the population differentiation by climate zone and the presence of novel, cryptic Aedes species in China. The low prevalence of Wolbachia infections in cryptic species populations could reflect either a recent invasion of Wolbachia in Ae. albopictus or different host immune responses to this symbiont in the cryptic species. The study provides useful information for vector control and host-symbiont coevolution. Further study is needed to investigate the potential for arbovirus infection and disease transmission in the emerged cryptic species.

Dataset Information

The Effects of Host Availability and Fitness on Aedes albopictus Blood Feeding Patterns in New York.

Publications

The Effects of Host Availability and Fitness on Aedes albopictus Blood Feeding Patterns in New York.

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