Taxonomy: f. Culicidae
Animal: Mosquito (epidemiology) 3. 19.jpg
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Comment:
Collecting samples from different hosts to prepare anti-species specific antisera for use in the bloodmeal identification tests - precipitin tests, haemagglutination inhibition tests and latex agglutination tests. The latex aggl. test has the advantage of speed and simplicity especially useful for field application but reagents have to be prepared in a lab beforehand. The other tests have to be performed in the lab. There are several different precipitin test methods; they do not differentiate between closely related species eg. man and other primates, domestic and wild pigs. The haemagglutination test will differentiate the individual species of wild animals and closely related species such as man and primates. Bloodmeal identification is used to study the epidemiology of vector borne diseases, detection of reservoir hosts, detection of insect vectors, ecology of insects and control of diseases. To distinguish feeds from different individuals of the same species eg of man, haptoglobin determination by gradient gel electrophoresis is useful especially in studies of multiple feeding of insect vectors. see Boreham. 1988. DSc.

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