Harada M, Ishikawa H, Matsuoka H, Ishii A, Suguri S
Department of Medical Zoology, Kagawa Medical University, Japan.
Acta Med Okayama. 2000 Aug;54(4):165-71. doi: 10.18926/AMO/32275.
We developed a sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for the detection of Plasmodium falciparum DNA from mosquitoes collected in the field. Plasmodium falciparum was detected from 15.2% of 1-parous mosquitoes, Anopheles farauti, in the Solomon Islands through use of the PCR method. A novel mathematical model was developed to estimate the sporozoite rate based on the malaria-positive rate of 1-parous mosquitoes. Using this model, the sporozoite rate of Anopheles farauti in the Solomon Islands was calculated to be 0.09%. This method enables estimation of the sporozoite rate based on a relatively small number (100-200) of mosquitoes compared with the number needed for the ELISA method.
