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dc.contributor.authorTriebenbach, Alison N.
dc.date.accessioned2015-02-10T20:46:41Z
dc.date.available2015-02-10T20:46:41Z
dc.date.issued2009-08
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11122/4925
dc.descriptionThesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2009en_US
dc.description.abstractTularemia is a plague-like disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. In Scandinavian countries tularemia transmission is clinically attributed to mosquitoes. To examine the transmission of tularemia by mosquitoes I exposed Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae larvae to F. tularensis and tested all life stages for bacterial DNA using real-time polymerase chain reaction (rtPCR). I fed adult A. aegypti and An. gambiae a blood meal containing F. novicida and tested for DNA 24, 48 and 72 hours after feeding. Seventy-two hours after the F. novicida blood meal I allowed A. aegypti and An. gambiae to feed on a mouse. My results indicate that 1. Aedes aegypti and An. gambiae larvae ingest F. tularensis but eliminate it from their system before maturing to adults and, 2. F. novicida DNA is present in adults 72 hours after feeding, and 3. mice remained healthy after multiple mosquitoes feeding on them. Although this implies F. tularensis is not spread by A. aegypti and An. gambiae, it exemplifies the need to investigate other subspecies of F. tularensis and other species of mosquito to eliminate species dependence.en_US
dc.description.tableofcontents1. Introduction to tularemia and mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) -- 2. Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae larvae exposed to Francisella tularensis subsp. novicida do not transmit the pathogen to later developmental stages -- 3. Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) transmission of Tularemia.en_US
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.titleA mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) model for the transmission of tularemiaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.degreemsen_US
dc.identifier.departmentDepartment of Biology and Wildlifeen_US
refterms.dateFOA2020-03-05T09:22:52Z


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