Abstract
Using young and old mosquitos (5 days and 12 days after emergence), we measured the following parameters : 1) blood meal size, 2) number of microfilariae ingested, 3) number of worms migrated from the midgut in 2 hr post feeding, 4) survival rate of mosquitos and 5) number of mature larvae in the mosquitos 14 days after ingestion of microfilariae. In young mosquitos the first three parameters were higher than for older ones; the survival rate of infected young mosquitos was less than for uninfected ones. At 14 days after ingestion, the infective rate and mature larva rate of the young mosquitos were less than for the older ones, but the total number of mature larvae dissected from young mosquitos was higher. The number of microfilariae ingested was less than the value expected from the density in the host blood. The correlation coefficient between the blood volume and microfilariae ingested was calculated as 0.5,which was not statistically significant.
