Mechanisms of resistance to Onchocerca infection in blackflies

In this article Peter Ham, Hans Hagen, Andrea Baxter and Jorg Grunewald focus on the susceptibility of blackflies to parasitic filarial infection (particularly Onchocera spp, most of the vectors of which belong to the genus Simulium). They outline what is known about, as well as speculating on, the various defence mechanisms of these insects. Investigations have involved the use of natural and surrogate vectors of bovine onchocerciasis as models for the human vector-parasite relationship.