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RE-INGESTION OF PLASMODIUM BERGHEI SPOROZOITES AFTER DELIVERY INTO THE HOST BY MOSQUITOES

Malaria-infected mosquitoes feeding on a mammalian host inject sporozoites into the skin to induce a malaria infection. The numbers of sporozoites ultimately able to reach the liver may be important determinants of the characteristics of the ensuing blood infection. Because feeding mosquitoes not only inject sporozoites into the host but concomitantly ingest blood to obtain their bloodmeal, some sporozoites are re-ingested by the feeding mosquito. We studied transmission of fluorescent Plasmodium berghei sporozoites injected into mice by Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes and found that the numbers of sporozoites re-ingested by mosquitoes are comparable to numbers previously reported to be delivered directly into mice. Thus, re-ingestion of sporozoites likely plays a significant role in transmission dynamics of malaria by mosquitoes, and may account for the failure of some sporozoite-infected mosquitoes to induce a blood infection.

Received April 20, 2006. Accepted for publication August 13, 2006.

Acknowledgments: We are grateful to Allen Clarkson and Ute Frevert for helpful comments on the manuscript.

Financial support: This study was supported by NIH Grant #AI63530 to JV.

^* Address correspondence to Jerome P. Vanderberg, Department of Medical Parasitology, New York University School of Medicine, 341 East 25th Street, New York, NY, 10010. E-mail: Jerome.Vanderberg{at}med.nyu.edu

Authors’ addresses: Chahnaz Kebaier and Jerome Vanderberg, Department of Medical Parasitology, New York University School of Medicine, 341 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010.

Reprint requests: Jerome Vanderberg, Department of Medical Parasitology, New York University School of Medicine, 341 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, E-mail: Jerome.Vanderberg{at}med.nyu.edu.

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