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Transmission of the nocturnal periodic strain of Wuchereria bancrofti by Culex quinquefasciatus: establishing the potential for urban filariasis in Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2000

S. TRITEERAPRAPAB
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
K. KANJANOPAS
Affiliation:
Filariasis Division, CDC, Ministry of Public Health, Bangkok, Thailand
S. SUWANNADABBA
Affiliation:
Filariasis Division, CDC, Ministry of Public Health, Bangkok, Thailand
S. SANGPRAKARN
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Y. POOVORAWAN
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
A. L. SCOTT
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205
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Abstract

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Control programmes have reduced the prevalence of Bancroftian filariasis in Thailand to low levels. Recently, there has been an influx of more than one million Myanmar immigrants into urban centres of Thailand. The prevalence of patent Wuchereria bancrofti infection in these immigrants (2–5%) has prompted concern in the public health community that the potential now exists for a re-emergence of Bancroftian filariasis in Thailand. It is possible that an urban cycle of transmission could become established. The Myanmar immigrants are infected with the nocturnal periodic (urban) type W. bancrofti for which Culex quinquefasciatus serves as the main vector. The Thai strains of Cx. quinquefasciatus have never been reported to transmit Bancroftian filariasis. Our results of feeding experiments demonstrated that the Thai Cx. quinquefasciatus are permissive for the development of Myanmar W. bancrofti to infective third-stage larvae thus establishing the potential for establishing an urban cycle of transmission in Thailand. We also adapted the SspI repeat PCR assay for the identification of infective mosquitoes that was capable of detecting a single infective stage larvae in a pool of 100 mosquitoes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press