Detection of malaria sporozoites expelled during mosquito sugar feeding

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 7545 - 9
• Main Authors: Brugman, V. A., Kristan, M., Gibbins, M. P., Angrisano, F., Sala, K. A., Dessens, J. T., Blagborough, A. M., Walker, T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 15-05-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/326/417; 631/326/421; 631/601/1466; 692/699/255/1629; Animals; Anopheles; Anopheles - parasitology; Aquatic insects; Cotton; Culicidae; Disease transmission; DNA, Protozoan - genetics; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Feeding; Gossypium - chemistry; Humanities and Social Sciences; Malaria; Mosquito Vectors - parasitology; Mosquitoes; multidisciplinary; Plasmodium - genetics; Plasmodium - isolation & purification; Plasmodium - physiology; Population Surveillance; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Saliva - parasitology; Salivary gland; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sporozoites; Sporozoites - genetics; Sporozoites - isolation & purification; Sugar; Sugars - administration & dosage; Vector-borne diseases; Wool
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-26010-6

Malaria is a severe disease of global importance transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus
Anopheles
. The ability to rapidly detect the presence of infectious mosquitoes able to transmit malaria is of vital importance for surveillance, control and elimination efforts. Current methods principally rely on large-scale mosquito collections followed by labour-intensive salivary gland dissections or enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) methods to detect sporozoites. Using forced salivation, we demonstrate here that
Anopheles
mosquitoes infected with
Plasmodium
expel sporozoites during sugar feeding. Expelled sporozoites can be detected on two sugar-soaked substrates, cotton wool and Whatman FTA cards, and sporozoite DNA is detectable using real-time PCR. These results demonstrate a simple and rapid methodology for detecting the presence of infectious mosquitoes with sporozoites and highlight potential laboratory applications for investigating mosquito-malaria interactions. Our results indicate that FTA cards could be used as a simple, effective and economical tool in enhancing field surveillance activities for malaria.