Abstract
BackgroundKnowledge on the temporal dynamics of host/vector/parasite interactions is a pre-requisite to further address relevant questions in the fields of epidemiology and evolutionary ecology of infectious diseases. In studies of avian malaria, the natural history of Plasmodium parasites with their natural mosquito vectors, however, is mostly unknown.MethodsUsing artificial water containers placed in the field, we monitored the relative abundance of parous females of Culex pipiens mosquitoes during two years (2010–2011), in a population in western Switzerland. Additionally, we used molecular tools to examine changes in avian malaria prevalence and Plasmodium lineage composition in female C. pipiens caught throughout one field season (April-August) in 2011.ResultsC. pipiens relative abundance varied both between years and months, and was associated with temperature fluctuations. Total Plasmodium prevalence was high and increased from spring to summer months (13.1-20.3%). The Plasmodium community was composed of seven different lineages including P. relictum (SGS1, GRW11 and PADOM02 lineages), P. vaughani (lineage SYAT05) and other Plasmodium spp. (AFTRU5, PADOM1, COLL1). The most prevalent lineages, P. vaughani (lineage SYAT05) and P. relictum (lineage SGS1), were consistently found between years, although they had antagonistic dominance patterns during the season survey.ConclusionsOur results suggest that the time window of analysis is critical in evaluating changes in the community of avian malaria lineages infecting mosquitoes. The potential determinants of the observed changes as well as their implications for future prospects on avian malaria are discussed.
Highlights
Knowledge on the temporal dynamics of host/vector/parasite interactions is a pre-requisite to further address relevant questions in the fields of epidemiology and evolutionary ecology of infectious diseases
The general life cycle of Plasmodium parasites seems to be well conserved across vertebrate hosts [6,7], their dynamics of infection within the vertebrate hosts can substantially vary depending on the combinations between host and parasite lineages e.g. [8,9,10]
Egg raft densities provided us with reliable estimates of the C. pipiens relative abundance throughout the year [53,54] and the measurements were congruent with the data gained from the survey of gravid C. pipiens with mosquito traps
Summary
Knowledge on the temporal dynamics of host/vector/parasite interactions is a pre-requisite to further address relevant questions in the fields of epidemiology and evolutionary ecology of infectious diseases. In studies of avian malaria, the natural history of Plasmodium parasites with their natural mosquito vectors, is mostly unknown. Seasonality is highly important for the population dynamics of infectious diseases and often results in cyclic prevalence patterns of the parasites within susceptible host populations (reviewed in [1]). Malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp., Haemosporidae: Apicomplexa) are extremely diversified protozoan blood parasites [4,5] that are transmitted to vertebrate hosts by blood-sucking dipteran insect vectors [6]. Malaria-infected hosts classically suffer a first peak of parasitaemia (acute infection phase), which occurs about 15 days after the parasite inoculation
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