Blood Feeding Patterns of Aedes aegypti Populations in Senegal

Abstract

Aedes aegypti plays an important role in the transmission of several arboviruses of medical importance. The availability of information on the blood-feeding preferences of mosquito vectors is a critical step in the understanding of the transmission of human pathogens and implementation of control strategies. In Senegal, no data currently exist on the feeding pattern of Ae. aegypti in urban areas. To fill this gap, Ae. aegypti blood-fed females were collected in five localities by aspiration and using BG Sentinel 2 traps. Collections were carried out monthly between July and November 2019 inside and outside human dwellings. The origin of the blood meal of Ae. aegypti females were identified by an ELISA technique. A total of 1, 710 blood-engorged females were examined and showed that Ae. aegypti preferentially fed on human with 78.6% of the identified blood meals. The other blood meals were from animals including dog, cat, horse, cattle, sheep, and rat. This is the first report on the feeding behavior of Ae. aegypti in urban settings in West Africa. It demonstrated that this species is highly anthropophilic.