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Do malaria parasites harm mosquitoes?
Mosquitoes transmit malaria parasites, but do the mosquitoes become diseased?
Whether malaria parasite increases vector mortality is contentious. Conventional wisdom is that they do not. This is the same conventional wisdom that says that all parasites should evolve to avirulence, a view now rejected by theory and data. Empirically, the picture is mixed. Malaria can certainly affect mosquito fecundity and behaviour. Some indirect field data are consistent with enhanced mortality effects whereas some are not. Experimental infections can lead to reduced survival or have no effect (Ferguson and Read 2002). We have found that P. chabaudi can increase vector mortality, but not always: there are strong and repeatable parasite genotype by environment (G x E) interactions (Ferguson and Read 2002). These patterns may explain why mortality effects are so variable between labs. We have tested the idea that virulence in the vertebrate host might be related to virulence in the vector; so far, there is no evidence that it is (Ferguson et al. in press)
Group members involved: Heather Ferguson