Department of Wetland Ecology, Doñana Biological Station (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas), Av. Americo Vespucio, sin. 41092, Sevilla, Spain.
J Med Entomol. 2011 Jul;48(4):956-60. doi: 10.1603/me11016.
The feeding patterns of haematophagous arthropods are of major importance in the amplification and transmission of infectious disease agents to vertebrate hosts, including humans. The establishment of new vector populations in nonnative range might alter transmission networks. The Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse) represents an example of how an invasive species can alter the risk of viral transmission to humans. Blood meal molecular identification from two sympatric mosquito species (the invasive Ae. albopictus and the native Culex pipiens) was carried out by polymerase chain reaction-based methods. Samples were collected in Barcelona metropolitan area, Spain, from June to October 2009 as part of a monitoring-control program. Blood meals were identified to the species level in 30 Ae. albopictus and 43 Cx. pipiens. Ae. albopictus acquired blood exclusively from human hosts (100%), whereas Cx. pipiens fed on a diversity of avian and mammalian hosts, including 35.7% of blood meals from humans. Based on mosquito diet, our results suggest that the Ae. albopictus invasion in Spain might increase the risk of virus transmission to humans and could support local outbreaks of imported tropical viruses such as dengue and chikungunya. However, in the studied area, the presence of this invasive species would have a negligible effect on the transmission of zoonotic agents such as West Nile virus. However, Cx. pipiens could amplify and transmit West Nile virus, but avian contribution to its diet was lower than that reported in North America. Feeding patterns of these mosquito species may help to understand the flavivirus outbreaks recently reported in southwestern Europe.
吸血节肢动物的取食模式对于包括人类在内的脊椎动物宿主中传染病原体的放大和传播具有重要意义。新的媒介种群在非原生范围内的建立可能会改变传播网络。亚洲虎蚊 Aedes albopictus（Skuse）就是一个例子，说明了入侵物种如何改变病毒向人类传播的风险。通过聚合酶链反应（PCR）方法对两种共生蚊子（入侵的 Aedes albopictus 和本地的 Culex pipiens）的血液餐进行了分子鉴定。这些样本是 2009 年 6 月至 10 月在西班牙巴塞罗那大都市区作为监测控制计划的一部分收集的。在 30 只 Aedes albopictus 和 43 只 Cx. pipiens 中鉴定了血液餐的种属水平。Aedes albopictus 仅从人类宿主中获取血液（100%），而 Cx. pipiens 则以多种鸟类和哺乳动物宿主为食，其中 35.7%的血液来自人类。根据蚊子的饮食，我们的研究结果表明，Aedes albopictus 在西班牙的入侵可能会增加病毒向人类传播的风险，并可能支持登革热和基孔肯雅热等进口热带病毒在当地爆发。然而，在研究区域，这种入侵物种的存在对西尼罗河病毒等人畜共患病原体的传播影响可以忽略不计。然而，Cx. pipiens 可以放大和传播西尼罗河病毒，但鸟类对其饮食的贡献低于北美报道的水平。这些蚊子的取食模式可能有助于理解最近在西南欧报告的黄病毒爆发。
