Blood feeding patterns of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in Thailand

Abstract

Aedes aegypti (L.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) were collected with aspirators from Mae Sot, Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Ratchasima, Surat Thani, and Phatthalung study sites in Thailand from July 2003 though April 2004. The sandwich-B enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to analyze 1,021 blood-fed specimens. Ae. aegypti almost exclusively fed on humans (99%, 658/664) in single host species, and 97% (86/88) of multiple-host bloodmeals included at least one human host. A low frequency of other hosts, including bovine, swine, cat, rat, and chicken were detected, but they represented <1% of bloodmeals. An even higher percentage of human feeding was detected in Ae. albopictus. Hosts of Ae. albopictus collected from sites in southern Thailand were entirely human (100%, n = 105) from both single and mixed meals. In the small number of double-host meals from Ae. albopictus, we detected 3.8% as swine-human and <1% from dog-human and cat-human. Forage ratios for Ae. aegypti indicated that human, dog, and swine were preferred hosts in order of preference. In contrast, bovine and chicken were avoided hosts for this species in Thailand. © 2005 Entomological Society of America.