Infectivity of symptomatic and asymptomatic Plasmodium vivax infections to a Southeast Asian vector, Anopheles dirus

Kirakorn Kiattibutr, Wanlapa Roobsoong, Patchara Sriwichai, Teerawat Saeseu, Nattawan Rachaphaew, Chayanut Suansomjit, Sureemas Buates, Thomas Obadia, Ivo Mueller, Liwang Cui, Wang Nguitragool, Jetsumon Sattabongkot

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

68 Scopus citations

Abstract

Plasmodium vivax is now the predominant species causing malarial infection and disease in most non-African areas, but little is known about its transmission efficiency from human to mosquitoes. Because the majority of Plasmodium infections in endemic areas are low density and asymptomatic, it is important to evaluate how well these infections transmit. Using membrane feeding apparatus, Anopheles dirus were fed with blood samples from 94 individuals who had natural P. vivax infections with parasitemias spanning four orders of magnitude. We found that the mosquito infection rate was positively correlated with blood parasitemia and that infection began to rise when parasitemia was >10 parasites/μl. Below this threshold, mosquito infection is rare and associated with very few oocysts. These findings provide useful information for assessing the human reservoir of transmission and for establishing diagnostic sensitivity required to identify individuals who are most infective to mosquitoes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)163-170
Number of pages8
JournalInternational Journal for Parasitology
Volume47
Issue number2-3
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Parasitology
  • Infectious Diseases

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