Comparison of blood feeding response and infection of Aedes aegypti to Wuchereria bancrofti using animal membranes and direct host contact.

Comparison of an artificial, whole-blood membrane feeding procedure was performed by feeding Aedes aegypti (Liverpool strain) on the blood of patients infected with Wuchereria bancrofti microfilariae with the use of 3 types of membranes produced from chicken and mouse skin and swine intestine. Direct feeding of Ae. aegypti on the skin of infected human patients served as control. For all 3 types of membranes, mosquito survival, infection, and number of infective-stage larvae per mosquito did not differ significantly from the control. However, the blood feeding response between swine intestine layer (32%) compared to chicken skin (75.3%), mouse skin (70%), and direct feeding (84%) differed significantly. The response in direct feeding method was significantly higher than those in all membranes tested (F = 18.89; df = 3; P < 0.05) Chicken skin preparation was shown to be the preferred membrane for blood feeding Ae. aegypti and experimental infection with W. bancrofti.