A study of the host selection patterns of the mosquitoes of the Kisumu area of Kenya.

ABSTRACT

The results of 12,168 precipitin tests on blood meals of mosquitoes of the Kano Plain caught by a variety of catching techniques indicate that to gain an accurate overall picture of feeding patterns both the indoor and the outdoor biotope must be sampled. CDC light traps operated inside houses and Monkswood type light traps operated under the outside eaves of houses were found to collect larger numbers of blood fed specimens from a wider range of species than battery driven aspirators collecting from natural resting sites. The results indicated that 7 mosquito species entered houses to bite man in appreciable numbers in the Kisumu area. These were Anopheles gambiae s.l., A. funestus, A. pharoensis, Mansonia uniformia, M. africana, Culex antennatus, and C. univittatus. Eight mosquito species were found to bite man and domestic animals in the outdoor biotope in large numbers. These were A. pharoensis, A. ziemanni, M. uniformis, M. africana, C. antennatus, C. univittatus, Aedes circumluteolus, and Ae. ochraceus. From an epidemiological point of view, species with a narrow range of hosts are most likely to be of importance as vectors of parasitic diseases such as malaria and into this category fall the major man biting anophelines A. gambiae and A. funestus. Those mosquito species which switch from one group of hosts to another according to local circumstances are most likely to be involved in arbovirus transmission and in this group the following species must be considered A. pharoensis, A. ziemanni, M. uniformia, M. africana, C. antennatus, C. univittatus and Ae. circumluteolus.