Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep;14(9):656-64.
doi: 10.1089/vbz.2013.1564.

Blood meal analysis and virus detection in blood-fed mosquitoes collected during the 2006-2007 Rift Valley fever outbreak in Kenya

Joel Lutomiah  1 , David Omondi, Daniel Masiga, Collins Mutai, Paul O Mireji, Juliette Ongus, Ken J Linthicum, Rosemary Sang
Affiliations

Blood meal analysis and virus detection in blood-fed mosquitoes collected during the 2006-2007 Rift Valley fever outbreak in Kenya

Joel Lutomiah et al. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonosis of domestic ruminants in Africa. Blood-fed mosquitoes collected during the 2006-2007 RVF outbreak in Kenya were analyzed to determine the virus infection status and animal source of the blood meals.

Materials and methods: Blood meals from individual mosquito abdomens were screened for viruses using Vero cells and RT-PCR. DNA was also extracted and the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (CO1) and cytochrome b (cytb) genes amplified by PCR. Purified amplicons were sequenced and queried in GenBank and Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) to identify the putative blood meal sources.

Results: The predominant species in Garissa were Aedes ochraceus, (n=561, 76%) and Ae. mcintoshi, (n=176, 24%), and Mansonia uniformis, (n=24, 72.7%) in Baringo. Ae. ochraceus fed on goats (37.6%), cattle (16.4%), donkeys (10.7%), sheep (5.9%), and humans (5.3%). Ae. mcintoshi fed on the same animals in almost equal proportions. RVFV was isolated from Ae. ochraceus that had fed on sheep (4), goats (3), human (1), cattle (1), and unidentified host (1), with infection and dissemination rates of 1.8% (10/561) and 50% (5/10), respectively, and 0.56% (1/176) and 100% (1/1) in Ae. mcintoshi. In Baringo, Ma. uniformis fed on sheep (38%), frogs (13%), duikers (8%), cattle (4%), goats (4%), and unidentified hosts (29%), with infection and dissemination rates of 25% (6/24) and 83.3% (5/6), respectively. Ndumu virus (NDUV) was also isolated from Ae. ochraceus with infection and dissemination rates of 2.3% (13/561) and 76.9% (10/13), and Ae. mcintoshi, 2.8% (5/176) and 80% (4/5), respectively. Ten of the infected Ae. ochraceus had fed on goats, sheep (1), and unidentified hosts (2), and Ae. mcintoshi on goats (3), camel (1), and donkey (1).

Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that RVFV and NDUV were concurrently circulating during the outbreak, and sheep and goats were the main amplifiers of these viruses respectively.

Keywords: Aedes ochraceus; Alphavirus.; Blood meal identification; Bunyavirididae; Host animals; Mansonia uniformis; Mosquito vectors; Ndumu virus; Rift Valley fever virus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

<b>FIG. 1.</b>
FIG. 1.
Map of Kenya showing the two regions, Baringo and Garissa, where the blood-fed mosquitoes were collected during the 2006–2007 Rift Valley fever outbreak.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Alberts B, Bray D, Lewis J, Raff M, et al. . Molecular Biology of the Cell, 3rd ed. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1994
    1. Altschul SF, Gish M, Miller W, Myers EW, et al. . Basic local alignment search tool. J Mol Biol 1990; 215:403–410 - PubMed
    1. Anderson D. Ecological studies on Sindbis and West Nile viruses in South Africa. III. Host preferences of mosquitoes as determined by the precipitin test. S Afr J Med Sci 1967; 32:31–39 - PubMed
    1. Beier JC, Odago OW, Onyango FK, Asiago CM, et al. . Relative abundance and blood feeding behavior of nocturnally active culicine mosquitoes in western Kenya. JAMCA 1990; 6:207–212 - PubMed
    1. Britch SC, Binepal YS, Ruder MG, Kariithi HM, et al. . Rift Valley fever risk map model and seroprevalence in selected wild ungulates and camels from Kenya. PLoS 2013; 8:e66626. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066626 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources