Plasmodium falciparum originated in Africa, dispersed around the world as a result of human migration and had to adapt to several different indigenous anopheline mosquitoes. Anophelines from the New World are evolutionary distant form African ones and this probably resulted in a more stringent selection of Plasmodium as it adapted to these vectors. It is thought that Plasmodium has been genetic...

Malaria transmission begins with the injection of Plasmodium sporozoites into the skin of a vertebrate host by infected anopheline mosquitoes. Although the size of the sporozoite inoculum likely affects the course of the disease, the number of sporozoites injected by infected mosquitoes has not been determined in vivo. Using a quantitative PCR assay, we determined the number of sporozoites inje...

BACKGROUND Adult female Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria. Some fish species eat mosquito larvae and pupae. In disease control policy documents, the World Health Organization (WHO) includes biological control of malaria vectors by stocking ponds, rivers, and water collections near where people live with larvivorous fish to reduce Plasmodium parasite trans...

A survey in Cameroon compared the usefulness of the circumsporozoite protein enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (CSP ELISA) to dissection and microscopic examination of anopheline salivary glands for measuring infectivity rates in anopheline mosquitoes. The salivary glands of 375 females, belonging to four species were examined for sporozoites. After microscopic examination, the glands as well a...