摘要：A vertically transmitted microsporidian,
Microsporidia MB, with the ability to disrupt
Plasmodium development was reported in
Anopheles arabiensis from Kenya, East Africa. To demonstrate its range of incidence, archived DNA samples from 7575
Anopheles mosquitoes collected from Ghana were screened.
MB prevalence was observed at 1.8%.
An. gambiae s.s constituted 87% of positive mosquitoes while the remaining were from
An. coluzzii. Both sibling species had similar positivity rates (24% and 19%;
p = 0.42) despite the significantly higher number of
An. gambiae s.s analysed (
An. gambiae s.s = 487;
An. coluzzii = 94;
p = 0.0005). The microsporidian was also more prevalent in emerged adults from field-collected larvae than field-caught adults (
p < 0.0001) suggestive of an efficient vertical transmission and/or horizontal transfer among larvae. This is the first report of
Microsporidia MB in
Anopheles mosquitoes in West Africa. It indicates possible widespread among malaria vector species and warrants investigations into the symbiont’s diversity across sub-Saharan Africa.
