Studies on quantitative aspects of the transmission of Wuchereria bancrofti

Feeding experiments with Anopheles gambiae and Culex fatigans infected with Wuchereria bancrofti showed that the mosquito females were losing about 20% of their worm burden when they were feeding on a blood chamber as well as on the guinea pig. 6.6% of all mature larvae found in the mosquitoes succeeded in entering the final host. A striking high infection rate was observed in those mosquitoes which refused to feed on a guinea pig. These mosquitoes have also to be considered when the loss of filarial larvae is calculated. Furthermore the experiments showed, that only very few larvae of Wuchereria bancrofti get lost when the mosquitoes are feeding only on sugar water solution.