On the development of onchocerca volvulus in mosquitoes

In an attmept to find an experimental vector for Onchocerca volvulus which can be easily be bred under laboratory conditions, the susceptibility of Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti to infection with O. volvulus was studied. The mosquitoes were fed on a membrane feeding apparatus containing microfilariae of O. volvulus. Whereas A. gambiae was refractory to infection. 14.9% of A. aegypti females became infected with developing stages, 11,2% showed young and mature third-stage larvae as well as some which had developed abnormally. However, no infective larvae of O. volvulus were found in the abdomen or the head of the mosquitoes.