| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
The southern house mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus is a principal vector of human lymphatic filariasis, several encephalitides (including West Nile virus), avian malaria, and poxvirus, but its importance as a vector varies considerably among regions. This species has spread with humans and is ubiquitous in tropical urban and suburban environments. This was the first mosquito to reach Hawaii and we performed a worldwide genetic survey using micro-satellite loci to identify its source. Our analyses showed divergent Old World and New World genetic signatures in Cx. quinquefasciatus with further distinctions between east and west African, Asian, and Pacific populations that correlate with the epidemiology of human filariasis. We found that in Hawaii south Pacific mosquitoes have largely replaced the original New World introduction of Cx. quinquefasciatus, consistent with their reported expansion to higher elevations. We hypothesize worldwide pathways of expansion of this disease vector.
Received June 8, 2005. Accepted for publication September 28, 2005.
Acknowledgments: We thank all our collaborators for field support or for providing mosquito samples. We also thank Gordon Nishida and the Bishop Museum in Hawaii for granting us access to rare specimens from the early 1900s. Nusha Keyghobadi, Carolyn Bahnck, and Jon Beadell greatly improved the manuscript with their comments.
Financial support: This work was supported by the Smithsonian Institution, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the Friends of the National Zoo, National Institutes of Health grant NIH R01GM063258, and grant CDC/NIH#U50/CCU220532.
Disclaimer: This material reflects the views of the authors and should not be construed to represent those of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.
* Address correspondence to Dina M. Fonseca, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103. E-mail: fonseca{at}acnatsci.org
Author’s addresses: Dina M. Fonseca, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Telephone: 215-299-1177, Fax: 215-299-1182, E-mail: fonseca{at}acnatsci.org. Julie L. Smith, Genetics Program, Smithsonian Institution, 3001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20008-0551 (current address: University of Delaware Graduate College of Marine Studies, Lewes, DE 19958, Telephone: 302-645-4288, Fax: 302-645-4007, E-mail: pacific{at}udel.edu). Richard C. Wilkerson, Department of Entomology, Division of Communicable Diseases and Immunology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910, Telephone: 301-238-1077, Fax: 301-238-3168, E-mail: wilkersonr{at}si.edu. Robert C. Fleischer, Genetics Program, Smithsonian Institution, 3001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20008-055, Telephone: 202-633-4190, Fax: 202-673-0040, E-mail: fleischer.robert{at}nmnh.si.edu.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  Y. O. Sanogo, C.-H. Kim, R. Lampman, and R. J. Novak A Real-Time TaqMan Polymerase Chain Reaction for the Identification of Culex Vectors of West Nile and Saint Louis Encephalitis Viruses in North America Am J Trop Med Hyg, July 1, 2007; 77(1): 58 - 66. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
