Bacteria in midguts of field-collected Anopheles albimanus block Plasmodium vivax sporogonic development.

Bacterial infections were investigated in midguts of insectary and field-collected Anopheles albimanus Weidemann from southern Mexico. Serratia marcescens, Enterobacter cloacae and Enterobacter amnigenus 2, Enterobacter sp., and Serratia sp. were isolated in field samples obtained in 1998, but only Enterobacter sp. was recovered in field samples of 1997 and no bacteria were isolated from insectary specimens. These bacteria were offered along with Plasmodium vivax infected blood to aseptic insectary An. albimanus, and the number of infected mosquitoes as well as the oocyst densities assessed after 7d. Plasmodium vivax infections in mosquitoes co-infected with En. amnigenus 2, En. cloacae, and S. marcensces were 53, 17, and 210 times, respectively, lower than in control mosquitoes, and the mean oocyst density in mosquitoes co-infected with En. cloacae was 2.5 times lower than in controls. Mortality was 13 times higher in S. marcensces-infected mosquitoes compared with controls. The overall midgut bacterial infection in mosquito field populations may influence P. vivax transmission, and could contribute to explain the annual variations in malaria incidence observed in the area.