Veiga J, Collantes F, Hernández-Triana L M, Prosser S W J, Valera F
Department of Parasitology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Experimental Station of Arid Zones (EEZA-CSIC), Ctra. de Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain.
Transbound Emerg Dis. 2024 Dec 17;2024:9259030. doi: 10.1155/tbed/9259030. eCollection 2024.
Ascertaining the feeding behavior of vectors is a key for understanding epidemiology of the infections they transmit. For some host-vector-parasite systems, this information is biased towards human and peridomestic habitats, frequently underestimating the likely role of wildlife. In addition, studies on vector interactions often focus on a one-to-one host-vector relationship, even though it is crucial to analyze how multiple vector species interact with multiple hosts. These biases particularly affect our knowledge of sandflies, the main vector of spp. and various phleboviruses, that are rarely explored in non-peridomestic habitats and in the context of multiple interactions with various hosts. To reveal the multihost/multivector network involving phlebotomine sandflies in a semiarid and poorly populated area of Spain, we sampled the sandfly community close to avian nests by means of two trapping methods (Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and sticky traps) during 3 years and identified the blood-meal source of all engorged sandflies. We detected six phlebotomine species with , , and being the most abundant ones. We identified 13 blood source species, with humans being the most common one, followed by (European roller) and (likely wild boar). Five of the six sandfly species fed largely on wild mammals, although, three also fed on wild birds. only fed on birds based on this analysis. and were common visitors of bird nests suggesting an endophagic behavior. A network analysis showed a highly-connected and poorly-specialized network wherein sandflies shared most of the blood source and showed an opportunistic feeding behavior with marked anthropophilia. Our results obtained close to avian nests show that sandfly populations are maintained by various wild animals, which will greatly complicate the management and control of the pathogens they transmit to humans and domestic animals.
确定病媒的摄食行为是了解它们所传播感染的流行病学的关键。对于一些宿主 - 病媒 - 寄生虫系统，这些信息往往偏向于人类和居家周边环境，常常低估了野生动物可能发挥的作用。此外，关于病媒相互作用的研究通常集中在一对一的宿主 - 病媒关系上，尽管分析多种病媒物种如何与多种宿主相互作用至关重要。这些偏差尤其影响我们对白蛉的了解，白蛉是锥虫属物种和各种白蛉病毒的主要传播媒介，在非居家周边环境以及与各种宿主的多重相互作用背景下很少被研究。为了揭示西班牙一个半干旱且人口稀少地区涉及吸血白蛉的多宿主/多病媒网络，我们在3年时间里通过两种诱捕方法（疾病控制中心（CDC）诱捕器和粘性诱捕器）对靠近鸟巢的白蛉群落进行了采样，并确定了所有饱血白蛉的血餐来源。我们检测到六种吸血白蛉物种，其中 、 和 最为常见。我们确定了13种血源物种，人类是最常见的，其次是 （欧洲佛法僧）和 （可能是野猪）。六种白蛉物种中有五种主要以野生哺乳动物为食，不过，其中三种也以野生鸟类为食。基于此分析， 仅以鸟类为食。 和 是鸟巢的常见访客，表明它们有嗜内性行为。网络分析显示该网络连接紧密且专业化程度低，其中白蛉共享大部分血源，并表现出具有明显嗜人习性的机会主义摄食行为。我们在靠近鸟巢处获得的结果表明，白蛉种群由各种野生动物维持，这将极大地使它们传播给人类和家畜的病原体的管理和控制复杂化。
