Evaluation of Seasonal Feeding Patterns of West Nile Virus Vectors in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States: Implications for Disease Transmission

Abstract

Many mosquito species take bloodmeals predominantly from either birds or mammals. Other mosquito species are less host-specific and feed readily on both. Furthermore, some species tend to alter their feeding patterns over the course of the year; early in the mosquito season such species may feed primarily on a particular host type, and subsequently take an increasingly larger proportion of their bloodmeals from an alternative host type as the season progresses. We have examined the feeding patterns of the three mosquito species found in Bernalillo County, NM: Culex quinquefasciatus (Say), Culex tarsalis (Coquillett), and Aedes vexans (Meigen). Specifically, we seek to determine if any of these species displays a seasonal shift in terms of its host utilization pattern. Our analysis focuses on these three species because they are all considered to be competent vectors for the West Nile virus (WNV). Our current data for Cx. quinquefasciatus suggest that unlike elsewhere in its range, this species increases its proportion of avian bloodmeals as the season progresses. Alternatively, Ae. vexans feeds primarily on mammals, whereas Cx. tarsalis appears to feed on both mammals and birds throughout the mosquito season. A more complete understanding of the feeding habits of these three mosquito species may help to clarify the transmission dynamics of WNV in Bernalillo County.

Feeding behavior of Aedes (Aedimorphus) vexans arabiensis, a Rift valley fever virus vector in the Ferlo pastoral ecosystem of Senegal

“…In our study, the origin of the blood meal was successfully identified in 76.68% of the cases. Similar success rates have been observed in several studies [25, 49–51], while others get lower success rates [44, 52]. These different observations would probably be explained by the quantity and quality of the blood (partially digested or not), the diagnostic techniques, the range of primers used compared to the domesticated and/or wild fauna of the localities.…”

“…Studies in Mexico and the northern United States (USA) also confirmed Ae. vexans’ preference for mammalian vertebrates [51, 54]. Molaei & Andreadis [54] showed that populations of Ae.…”

“…Most authors showed a moderate or low rate of blood meal (0.4 to 10%) of Ae. vexans arabiensis on birds [23, 51, 54]. It should also be noted that most of the mixed meals (mainly recorded in August) originated from “horses-sheep” (55.48%) and “horses-goats” (24.66%).…”

Bioclimatic and altitudinal variables influence the potential distribution of canine parvovirus type 2 worldwide

“…Studies have shown that environmental factors such as geography, climate, and weather have a significant influence on the geographic distribution of animal viruses. For example, adenovirus (Fagbo et al, 2016), rotavirus (Das et al, 2017), respiratory syncytial virus (Nenna et al, 2017), hantavirus (Prist, Uriarte, Fernandes, & Metzger, 2017;Tian et al, 2017), and avian influenza virus (Tian et al, 2015) are closely related to temperature, precipitation, and humidity, which may vary locally and seasonally (Lujan, Greenberg, Hung, Dimenna, & Hofkin, 2014). Indeed, CPV-2 shows local and seasonal characteristics (Schoeman, Goddard, & Leisewitz, 2013;Zhao et al, 2016).…”

The Immune Responses of the Animal Hosts of West Nile Virus: A Comparison of Insects, Birds, and Mammals

“…quinquefasciatus mosquitoes are likely the primary vectors for enzootic infection in birds, but Cx. tarsalis are more likely the bridge to infect humans, as these mosquitoes feed on both mammals and birds throughout the feeding season (Lujan et al, 2014 ).…”