title: Country-wide prevalence of Ascogregarina culicis (apicomplexa: lecudinidae), a protozoan parasite of Aedes aegypti in Trinidad, West Indies.
abstract: The prevalence of the gregarine parasite Ascogregarina culicis was determined for Aedes aegypti populations in Trinidad, West Indies. Over 5 months, a total of 5,651 Ae. aegypti larvae were collected and identified from 419 sites throughout Trinidad as part of a national dengue surveillance program. Ascogregarina culicis infections were detected in 13.4% of 1,986 Ae. aegypti larvae dissected. In 7 of 8 counties or major subdivisions where this parasite was detected in Trinidad, the prevalence per locality ranged from 9.6 to 17.1% with an associated parasite density of 19.1-51.9 trophozoites/larva. Confirming that Ae. aegypti populations in Trinidad are highly susceptible to infection with A. culicis parasites, experimental studies showed that a strain of A. culicis from Florida readily infected 3 strains of Ae. aegypti from Trinidad with essentially no associated mortality. This report extends the known geographic range of A. culicis in Ae. aegypti populations and represents one of the first country-wide surveys for this gregarine parasite.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University Medical Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Beier
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Chadee
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Charran
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Comiskey
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Wesson
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000469:parasitology*; D000818:Animals; D016782:Apicomplexa; D014300:Trinidad and Tobago; D014900:West Indies