Infection and transmission of Plasmodium gallinaceum (Eucoccida: Plasmodiidae) in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae): effect of preinfection sugar meals and postinfection blood meals.

Frequency of sugar feeding and blood feeding can have an impact on the infection by and transmission of malaria parasites. Data presented here indicate that frequent blood feeding has a deleterious effect on infection by malaria parasites in Aedes aegypti. In addition, mosquitoes that do not blood feed, but instead feed on sugar alone after an infected blood meal, have a higher rate of parasite transmission than mosquitoes fed additional blood meals.