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Comparative Study
. 1997 Jul;34(4):417-25.
doi: 10.1093/jmedent/34.4.417.

Mixed-species Plasmodium infections of Anopheles (Diptera:Culicidae)

F E McKenzie  1 , W H Bossert
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Mixed-species Plasmodium infections of Anopheles (Diptera:Culicidae)

F E McKenzie et al. J Med Entomol. 1997 Jul.

Erratum in

  • J Med Entomol 1997 Sep;34(5):ii

Abstract

Mixed-pathogen infections of vectors rarely are considered in the epidemiological literature, although they may occur in nature. A review of published reports shows that many Anopheles species are capable of carrying sporozoites of > 1 Plasmodium species, of doing so simultaneously in field conditions, and of acquiring and transmitting these in experimental situations. Mixed-species infections in mosquito populations occur at frequencies greater than or equal to the product of the constituent species prevalences, whereas human populations have apparent mixed-species infections at frequencies less than or equal to their corresponding expected values. We present a model for the accumulation of parasite infections over the lifespan of a mosquito that explains this surplus of mixed-species infections. However, the expected frequencies of mixed infections on the basis of our model are greater than those found in nature, indicating that the sampling by mosquitoes of Plasmodium species from human malaria infections may not be random.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Behavior of the accumulation model for 2 values of the species gametocyte prevalences in the human population, P = PA = PB, with respect to 2-d vector mortality: (A) the fraction of vectors infectious for any species or combination; (B) the ratio of vectors infectious for >1 species to those infectious for only 1.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Behavior of the accumulation model, for 2-d vector mortality fixed at 0.28, with respect to the species gametocyte prevalences in the human population, P = PA = PB: (A) the fraction of vectors infectious either for a single species alone or for >1; (B) the ratio of vectors infectious for >1 species to those infectious for only 1; (C) the ratio of vectors infectious for >1 species to the total infectious.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Behavior of the accumulation model, for 2-d vector mortality fixed at 0.28, with respect to equal and unequal species gametocyte prevalences in the human population, PA and PB. The ratio shown divides the fre­quencies of multiply infectious mosquitoes predicted by the model by those predicted by the product of the spe­cies prevalences in infectious mosquitoes.
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