Abstract
Aedes aegypti is the major vector of Dengue in Sri Lanka. Dengue virus is transmitted via blood feeding of vector mosquitoes. Blood is an essential component for the fecundity of mosquitoes and the knowledge on feeding behaviour of Ae. aegypti is important in dengue prevention measures. Therefore, the study was designed to identify the preferential feeding of Ae. aegypti on human ABO blood groups and their impacts on fecundity. Laboratory reared female Ae. aegypti mosquitoes were exposed to all four blood groups at once in separate membrane feeders. After feeding, DNA of blood in mosquitoes was extracted and identified using ABO genotyping PCR. Fecundity was determined by the mean number of eggs in an egg batch. The highest preference was observed for the blood group “O” (P<0.05; 0.00). The mean number of egg production of each blood group was not significantly different showing no impact on the blood type for the fecundity. This study reports for the first time that there is no direct impact of the preferred blood group on the fecundity of Ae. aegypti female mosquitoes. Furthermore, preference of blood group selection by female mosquitoes would be highly important in personal protection measures against mosquito bites, as the personal protection is one of the most effective control measures for prevention of Dengue.
Highlights
Major vector of Dengue, Yellow fever and Chikungunaya is currently distributed throughout the tropics including Sri Lanka and a number of subtropical regions such as South-Eastern United States, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Indian Islands and Northern Australia [1]
Aedes aegypti mosquito colony was established in the Department of Zoology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, from a single engorged wild mosquito collected from Maharagama (N 6.854800, E 79.928604) area
There were no significant difference in fecundity for different blood groups (P>0.05; 0.937)
Summary
Major vector of Dengue, Yellow fever and Chikungunaya is currently distributed throughout the tropics including Sri Lanka and a number of subtropical regions such as South-Eastern United States, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Indian Islands and Northern Australia [1]. It is considered as the major vector of epidemic dengue in Sri Lanka causing around 185, 969 cases and 215 deaths in 2017 [2]. Blood feeding patterns of the mosquitoes provide important information on disease transmission via biting of mosquitoes
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