Malaria Altering Host Attractiveness and Mosquito Feeding

Malaria-induced changes in host odors enhance mosquito attraction.

Vector-borne pathogens may alter traits of their primary hosts in ways that influence the frequency and nature of interactions between hosts and vectors. Previous work has reported enhanced mosquito attraction to host organisms infected with malaria parasites but did not address the mechanisms underlying such effects. Here we document malaria-induced changes in the odor profiles of infected mic...

Interindividual variation in the attractiveness of human odours to the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae s. s.

Differences between human individuals in their attractiveness to female mosquitoes have been reported repeatedly, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Skin emanations from 27 human individuals, collected on glass marbles, were tested against ammonia in a dual-choice olfactometer to establish their degrees of attractiveness to anthropophilic Anopheles gambiae s.s. Giles (Dipter...

The mosquito-malaria theory.

The influence of malaria parasite genetic diversity and anaemia on mosquito feeding and fecundity.

Studies of invertebrate-parasite interactions frequently report that infection reduces host fecundity. The extent of the reduction is likely to be determined by a wide range of host and parasite factors. We conducted a laboratory experiment to evaluate the role of parasite genetics and infection genetic diversity on the fecundity of mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites. The malaria vector Anop...

Mosquito-Malaria Hypothesis

over our food or drowns itself in our drink, the gnat that buries its lancet in our veins, the bed-bug that attacks the uncleanly during the slumbers of the night, the wasp and the bee that thrust us with their stings?are all transporters, injectors or introducers of germ life. "My reasons for affirming this are briefly comprised in the statement that I have never known a person suffer from mal...