Sulaimon, Tijani, Wood, Anthony, Bonsall, Michael, Boots, Michael and Lord, Jennifer (2025) 'The potential impacts of vector host species fidelity on zoonotic arbovirus transmission'. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 19, Issue 5, e0012196.
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Abstract
The interaction between vector host preference and host availability on vector blood feeding behaviour has important implications for the transmission of vector-borne pathogens. However, to our knowledge, the effect of bias towards feeding on the same host species from which a first meal was taken, termed fidelity, has not been quantified. Using a mathematical model we showed that vector fidelity to the host species they take a first blood meal from leads to non-homogeneous mixing between hosts and vectors. Taking Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) as a case study, we investigated how vector preference for amplifying vs dead-end hosts and fidelity can influence JEV transmission. We show that in regions where pigs (amplifying hosts) are scarce compared to cattle (dead-end hosts preferred by common JEV vectors), JEV could still be maintained through vector fidelity. Our findings demonstrate the importance of considering fidelity as a potential driver of transmission, particularly in scenarios such as Bangladesh and India where the composition of the host community might initially suggest that transmission is not possible.
Item Type: | Article |
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Subjects: | QS Anatomy > QS 124 Comparative anatomy of humans and animals QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 650 Insect vectors |
Faculty: Department: | Biological Sciences > Vector Biology Department |
Digital Object Identifer (DOI): | https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.08.593124 |
Depositing User: | Mary Creegan |
Date Deposited: | 29 May 2025 12:04 |
Last Modified: | 29 May 2025 12:04 |
URI: | https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/26537 |
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