Laboratory infection of Anopheles pharoensis with Wuchereria bancrofti

A. pharoensis was infected from a donor with a high count of W. bancrofti microfilariae. Of the freshly dissected mosquitos, 81.6% were found to have ingested microfilariae, with an average of 12 +/- 2.2 microfilariae per mosquito. An infectivity rate of 41.9% was observed in mosquitos dissected between the eleventh and fifteenth days after feeding. A mean of 7.6 +/- 1.2 third-stage larvae was found in infective mosquitos. Although A. pharoensis has not yet been found naturally infected with third-stage larvae of W. bancrofti, these studies suggest that it is a potential vector of Bancroftian filariasis.