Anopheles pseudowillmori is the predominant malaria vector in Motuo County, Tibet Autonomous Region.
BACKGROUND
Malaria is endemic in Linzhi Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), but the vector for malaria transmission had never been identified.


METHODS
Adult Anopheles spp. were collected in Motuo County, Linzhi Prefecture on the Sino-Indian border in July and August, 2007. Multiplex PCR was adopted for species identification, and a nested PCR approach was used to detect sporozoites in the salivary glands of the mosquitoes.


RESULTS
3,675 mosquitoes of the Anopheles maculatus group were collected and processed for species identification. Among them, 3,602 (98.0%) were Anopheles pseudowillmori and 73 (2.0%) were Anopheles willmori. The Plasmodium vivax SSUrDNA fragment was amplified in two of 360 pooled An. pseudowillmori samples.


CONCLUSIONS
The local An. maculatus group comprises the species An. pseudowillmori and An. willmori. Anopheles pseudowillmori is considered the sole malaria vector in Motuo County in Linzhi Prefecture.
Wu
Song
S
National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, PR China. jswu167@126.com
Pan
Jia-Yun
JY
Wang
Xue-Zhong
XZ
Zhou
Shui-Sen
SS
Zhang
Guo-Qing
GQ
Liu
Qian
Q
Tang
Lin-Hua
LH
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000469:parasitology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D007303:Insect Vectors; D008288:Malaria / Q000235:genetics / Q000635:transmission; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000469:parasitology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D018609:Tibet
D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D019476:Insect Proteins