Susceptibilidade experimental do Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) nuneztovari Galbadon, 1940 ao Plasmodium vivax Grassi&Feletti, 1890 e Plasmodium falciparum Welch, 1897

Abstract

The importance of the An. nuneztovari as malaria primary vector had already been confirmed in different South America countries such as Venezuela, Colombia and Peru. In the Brazilian Amazonian, although this specie had been found naturally infected by Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum and in high densities, it is considered a secondary vector of this disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the susceptibility of the An. nuneztovari to the infection by human Plasmodium species. For that, mosquitoes specimens of F1 progeny, obtained under laboratory conditions, of the An. nuneztovari and An. darlingi (control) were fed on an artificial feeding apparatus, using human blood that had been found carrying the malaria parasite, P. falciparum, whose revision had resulted as mixed infection. All blood samples from patients had infected specimens of both mosquitoes species tested, and no significant statistical difference was found related to the susceptibility. For the detection malaria infection in mosquitoes specimens it was conducted the ELISA (Enzime – Linked Imunosorbent Assay) test, whose results were divergent from the diagnostic one, since it has identified mosquitoes specimens infected by P. falciparum, P. vivax VK210 and/or P. vivax VK247, which suggests that the donors patients had mixed infection. It was also observed the short period of development of the oocysts and sporozoites, from four to five days, fact that can be explained by the high temperature (>300C) that the mosquitoes were exposed. Thus, our results suggest the probable enrollment of the An. nuneztovari in the human malaria transmission in the study area and point out the role of this mosquito specie as human malaria primary vector in the Brazilian Amazon region.