Detection of Plasmodium falciparum Infection in Anopheles squamosus (Diptera: Culicidae) in an Area Targeted for Malaria Elimination, Southern Zambia.
Southern Zambia is the focus of strategies to create malaria-free zones. Interventions being rolled out include test and treat strategies and distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets that target vectors that host-seek indoors and late at night. In Macha, Choma District, collections of mosquitoes were made outdoors using barrier screens within homesteads or UV bulb light traps set next to goats, cattle, or chickens during the rainy season of 2015. Anopheline mosquitoes were identified to species using molecular methods and Plasmodium falciparum infectivity was determined by ELISA and real-time qPCR methods. More than 40% of specimens caught were identified as Anopheles squamosus Theobald, 1901 of which six were found harboring malaria parasites. A single sample, morphologically identified as Anopheles coustani Laveran, 1900, was also found to be infectious. All seven specimens were caught outdoors next to goat pens. Parasite-positive specimens as well as a subset of An. squamosus specimens from either the same study or archive collections from the same area underwent sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. Maximum parsimony trees constructed from the aligned sequences indicated presence of at least two clades of An. squamosus with infectious specimens falling in each clade. The single infectious specimen identified morphologically as An. coustani could not be matched to reference sequences. This is the first report from Zambia of infections in An. squamosus, a species which is described in literature to display exophagic traits. The bionomic characteristics of this species needs to be studied further to fully evaluate the implications for indoor-targeted vector control.
The W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 (jennyc.stevenson@macharesearch.org; jpringl3@jhu.edu; cjone176@jhu.edu; douglas.norris@jhu.edu).|Macha Research Trust, Choma, Zambia (limonty.simubali@macharesearch.org; saidon.mbambara@macharesearch.org; Michael.musonda@macharesearch.org; Sydney.mweetwa@macharesearch.org; twig.mudenda@gmail.com), and.
Jennifer C
JC
Stevenson
Macha Research Trust, Choma, Zambia (limonty.simubali@macharesearch.org; saidon.mbambara@macharesearch.org; Michael.musonda@macharesearch.org; Sydney.mweetwa@macharesearch.org; twig.mudenda@gmail.com), and.
Limonty
L
Simubali
Macha Research Trust, Choma, Zambia (limonty.simubali@macharesearch.org; saidon.mbambara@macharesearch.org; Michael.musonda@macharesearch.org; Sydney.mweetwa@macharesearch.org; twig.mudenda@gmail.com), and.
Saidon
S
Mbambara
Macha Research Trust, Choma, Zambia (limonty.simubali@macharesearch.org; saidon.mbambara@macharesearch.org; Michael.musonda@macharesearch.org; Sydney.mweetwa@macharesearch.org; twig.mudenda@gmail.com), and.
Michael
M
Musonda
Macha Research Trust, Choma, Zambia (limonty.simubali@macharesearch.org; saidon.mbambara@macharesearch.org; Michael.musonda@macharesearch.org; Sydney.mweetwa@macharesearch.org; twig.mudenda@gmail.com), and.
Sydney
S
Mweetwa
Macha Research Trust, Choma, Zambia (limonty.simubali@macharesearch.org; saidon.mbambara@macharesearch.org; Michael.musonda@macharesearch.org; Sydney.mweetwa@macharesearch.org; twig.mudenda@gmail.com), and.
Twig
T
Mudenda
The W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 (jennyc.stevenson@macharesearch.org; jpringl3@jhu.edu; cjone176@jhu.edu; douglas.norris@jhu.edu).
Julia C
JC
Pringle
The W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 (jennyc.stevenson@macharesearch.org; jpringl3@jhu.edu; cjone176@jhu.edu; douglas.norris@jhu.edu).
Christine M
CM
Jones
The W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205 (jennyc.stevenson@macharesearch.org; jpringl3@jhu.edu; cjone176@jhu.edu; douglas.norris@jhu.edu) douglas.norris@jhu.edu.
Douglas E
DE
Norris
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015024:Zambia
D019476:Insect Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV
malaria; mosquito-borne disease; vector competence; vector ecology