The distribution of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (L.), the main vector of dengue viruses (DENV) worldwide, overlaps with Aedes (Gymnometopa) mediovittatus (Coquillett), the Caribbean treehole mosquito, in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Ae. mediovittatus is a competent vector of DENV with high rates of vertical DENV transmission in the laboratory. This study determined whether Ae. mediovittatus feeds on humans and compared its feeding patterns with co-occurring Ae. aegypti in two rural communities of Puerto Rico. Adult mosquitoes were captured for three consecutive days every week from July 2009 to May 2010 using BG-Sentinel traps with skin lures that were placed in the front yard of houses in both communities. Three methods were used to identify the 756 bloodmeals obtained in this study: a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for humans and dogs targeting cytochrome b; a PCR targeting the 16S rRNA; and a nested PCR targeting cytochrome b. Ae. mediovittatus fed mostly on humans (45-52%) and dogs (28-32%) but also on cats, cows, horses, rats, pigs, goats, sheep, and chickens. Ae. aegypti fed mostly on humans (76-79%) and dogs (18-21%) but also on cats, horses, and chickens. Our results indicate that Ae. mediovittatus may have a relatively high rate of vector-human contact, which might facilitate virus transmission or harborage in rural areas of Puerto Rico.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4627690PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1603/me12046DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

puerto rico
12
rural areas
8
targeting cytochrome
8
pcr targeting
8
fed humans
8
mediovittatus
6
vertebrate hosts
4
aedes
4
hosts aedes
4
aegypti
4

Similar Publications

Fatuamide A, a Hybrid PKS/NRPS Metallophore from a sp. Marine Cyanobacterium Collected in American Samoa.

J Nat Prod

January 2025

Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States.

A structurally novel metabolite, fatuamide A (), was discovered from a laboratory cultured strain of the marine cyanobacterium sp., collected from Faga'itua Bay, American Samoa. A bioassay-guided approach using NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells directed the isolation of fatuamide A, which was obtained from the most cytotoxic fraction.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Female sex workers are a vulnerable hard-to-reach group. Research in this field is scarce due to several issues, such as methodological difficulties or societal stigmatization. Most of the available literature focuses on sexually transmittable diseases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The repetitive observations of satellites provide rich multi-temporal information for coastal remote sensing, making it possible to improve the accuracy of bathymetric inversion through multi-temporal satellite data. This study takes Culebra, Puerto Rico, as the study area and attempts multi-temporal bathymetric inversion using 193 Sentinel-2 images and eight tracks of ICESat-2 ATL03 data. Two widely used machine-learning models, CatBoost and Random Forest (RF), were employed to construct bathymetric inversion models, and the Fusion followed by Inversion (FI) strategy and inversion followed by Fusion (IF) strategy were also compared.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the fracture resistance of long-span fixed provisional restorations fabricated using milling, three-dimensional (3D) printing, and conventional methods.

Materials And Methods: Sixty specimens were prepared, divided into four groups of 15 each, corresponding to four fabrication methods: computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) milled provisional resins, 3D-printed provisional resins, 3D-printed permanent resins, and conventional bis-acryl restorations reinforced with wire. The specimens underwent a three-point bending test using a universal testing machine to measure fracture resistance, quantified as maximum force (in Newtons).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Developmental Origin of Novel Complex Morphological Traits in Lepidoptera.

Annu Rev Entomol

January 2025

Department of Biology and Molecular Sciences Research Center, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Novel traits in the order Lepidoptera include prolegs in the abdomen of larvae, scales, and eyespot and band color patterns in the wings of adults. We review recent work that investigates the developmental origin and diversification of these four traits from a gene-regulatory network (GRN) perspective. While prolegs and eyespots appear to derive from distinct ancestral GRNs co-opted to novel body regions, scales derive from in situ modifications of a sensory bristle GRN.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!