Detection of Wuchereria bancrofti L3 Larvae in Mosquitoes: A Reverse Transcriptase PCR Assay Evaluating Infection and Infectivity

Authors

Sandra J. Laney, Smith College
Reda M.R. Ramzy, National Nutrition Institute, Cairo, Egypt
Hanan H. Helmy, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
Hoda A. Farid, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
Ameen A. Ashour, Taif University, Taif, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Gary J. Weil, Washington University School of Medicine
Steven A. Williams, Smith CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-16-2010

Publication Title

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Abstract

Lymphatic filariasis is a disabling and disfiguring disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted by a mosquito. The life cycle of the parasite requires two hosts: the mosquito vector and the human host. Part of the developmental life cycle of the parasite occurs in the mosquito and the other part in the human host. The parasite develops through four stages in the mosquito, only the last of which is infectious to humans. The third larval stage (L3) is the infective stage that initiates human infections when infective mosquitoes bite humans. There is currently a global program attempting to eliminate this disease by administering drugs to affected communities with the goal of interrupting transmission of the parasite. The new diagnostic tool described in this paper uses molecular techniques to specifically detect the infective stage of the parasite in mosquitoes. Many mosquitoes can be tested at one time to assess the risk of ongoing transmission of filariasis in communities. In addition, this new L3-detection assay can simultaneously detect whether the mosquitoes contain ‘any-stage’ of the parasite. This provides information on infection rates in humans in the community. Both pieces of information can be used in assessing the progress of disease elimination efforts.

Volume

4

Issue

2

DOI

doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000602

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights

©2010 Laney et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Comments

Archived as published.

Recommended Citation

Laney, Sandra J.; Ramzy, Reda M.R.; Helmy, Hanan H.; Farid, Hoda A.; Ashour, Ameen A.; Weil, Gary J.; and Williams, Steven A., "Detection of Wuchereria bancrofti L3 Larvae in Mosquitoes: A Reverse Transcriptase PCR Assay Evaluating Infection and Infectivity" (2010). Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/bio_facpubs/21