Blood-Feeding Patterns of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Collected in a Rural Thai Village

Abstract

Aedes aegypti (L.) were collected by aspiration once each week from in and around houses in a rural village in Chachoengsao Province, Thailand, during May 1990 to June 1991. Of the 1,230 specimens analyzed with a sandwich ELISA, 73% reacted to one or more of the seven hosts which we tested. Eighty-eight percent (789/896) of all detectable meals were identified as being from a single host (human). Patent multiple meals (double and triple), of which one was always human, were detected in 7% (66/896) of the specimens. The probability of feeding on a human, either as a single host or in a patent mixed meal, was >0.90 during 12 of the 14 mo of the study; this probability never dropped below 0.85. The probability of Ae. aegypti taking multiple blood meals during a single gonotrophic cycle varied widely from 0.0 to 1.0. The possibility is discussed, including epidemiological significance, that there are seasonal fluctuations in the frequency of multiple feeding by Ae. aegypti and that multiple feeding increases in concert with seasonal trends for dengue infections of humans in Thailand.