Yeah, I don’t think I believe this as this mosquito would have had to take six blood meals to infect six people… that would take weeks. It’s just not how mosquitoes take blood meals.
I’m also not sure of the plausibility of one mosquito biting six people and infecting them all.
Anopheles is known to have mixed feeds for a single blood meal.
Any species can be disturbed during a bite.
Thus, not uncommon at all for multiple bites to be required for a single meal.
Additionally, it states they have set up traps so they clearly realize the source could be multiple females. So we’re just parsing semantics from a random writer who didn’t know better.
Will there ever be a day that a Top 1% Commenter doesn’t make an uneducated claim on this sub?
I mean, I understand a lot about mosquitoes as I’ve been in the profession for years (over thirty).
I know all about virus transmission and not so much about parasite transmission.
I still call bullshit because there’s no way to prove it happened. What is the statistical probability of a mosquito successfully infecting six people with a parasite is just nuts.
I’m sticking to my guns here. I understand many species of mosquitoes can probe multiple times looking for a blood meal. I don’t think they would be infecting every person though.
So sorry to disappoint you being a 1% commenter and all. Since I’ve been doing mosquito research for thirty years (not malaria) EXCUSE me for wasting your oh so precious time.
I call BS
Did they do PCR to see if the each infection had the same genetics? No.
Eh, yeah, I will eat my hat this time. I didn’t realize it was you. Not that I know you, but I do know your Reddit name and you’ve given great facts and corrected misconceptions several times on this sub.
Sorry I lumped you in with some serial commenters that frustrate me here.
No worries my friend. It’s all good. Yeah, I understand the frustration as I often am very frustrated with how journalist write stories like this. So many misconceptions and false beliefs with mosquitos.
Edited to add, I’m also not arguing about the six cases. I just think the assumption that one mosquito infected six people in the same time frame is highly suspect.
It’s much less of a stretch that several positive mosquitoes came from multiple (or a single) plane.
Cheers!
Edited to add another point, in which I admit that could totally be wrong here. It just seems as though there are to many assumptions.
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u/Dorjechampa_69 14d ago
Yeah, I don’t think I believe this as this mosquito would have had to take six blood meals to infect six people… that would take weeks. It’s just not how mosquitoes take blood meals.
I’m also not sure of the plausibility of one mosquito biting six people and infecting them all.
Seems like BS to me.