EXPERIMENTAL-INFECTION OF CULEX (CULEX) QUINQUEFASCIATUS AND AEDES (STEGOMYIA) AEGYPTI WITH WUCHERERIA-BANCROFTI

A study was conducted to determine the susceptibility of local strains of Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti to infection with the str ain of Wuchereria bancrofti that occurs in Maceio, State of Alagoas, B razil. Cx. quinquefasciatus blood fed simultaneously on the same micro filariae carrier ingested more blood and 2-3x more microfilariae than Ae. aegypti. Survival rates of both species of insects living for 21 d ays after blood feeding on microfilaraemic patients were not significa ntly different from the survival rates of mosquitoes that blood fed on amicrofilaraemic individuals. W. bancrofti parasites underwent normal development in Cx. quinquefasciatus, with third stage larvae first be ing recorded on the 11th day post infection, and their numbers increas ing thereafter. Development of filariae in Ae. aegypti did not proceed beyond the first larval stage, and there was a progressively increasi ng number of non-viable larvae with the passage of time. It is conclud ed that Ae. aegypti is not involved in the transmission of W. bancroft i in Maceio.