Bloodmeal Identification by Direct Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa), Tested on Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae) in Kenya12

Abstract

A direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for bloodmeal identification of seven hosts. Commercially available reagents are used; the test can be completed in only 4.5 h. Blood meals can be detected up to 32 h after feeding for dried mosquitoes and up to 23 h for frozen mosquitoes. A two-step procedure, using antihuman peroxidase conjugate and antibovine phosphatase conjugate, was developed to test a single mosquito for two hosts in the same microtiter plate well. The assay was applied to Anopheles gambiae Giles s. lat. and A. funestus Giles collected inside huts in western Kenya; 94% of 4,338 blood meals were identified as either human (88%), cow (4%), or mixed humancow (2%). Additionally, a system was developed whereby a single mosquito could be tested by both the blood meal ELISA and the malaria sporozoite ELISA.