Malaria transmission remains high in rural Tanzania despite widespread use of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying. Outdoor biting and flexible host-feeding behavior of Anopheles mosquitoes reduce the effectiveness of these interventions. Livestock near households may influence vector behavior, but evidence from high-transmission rural settings is limited. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2022 to February 2023 in 5 villages of Misungwi District, involving 44 households (22 livestock-keeping and 22 non-livestock-keeping). Adult Anopheles mosquitoes were collected indoors and outdoors using Center for Disease Control light traps, identified morphologically and by PCR, and blood-meal sources were determined by ELISA. Host-feeding patterns were assessed using the human blood index, bovine blood index, and foraging ratios. A total of 611 female mosquitoes were collected, dominated by An. gambiae s.l. (96.1%) and An. funestus s.l. (3.9%). Livestock households had more mosquitoes (61.5%) and higher outdoor activity (67.3%), while non-livestock households had higher indoor collections (73.6%). Among 231 blood-fed mosquitoes, 150 (64.9%) were from livestock households and 81 (35.1%) from non-livestock households. In livestock households, 108 (72.0%) had animal blood only, 27 (18.0%) mixed blood, and 15 (10.0%) human blood only. In non-livestock households, 44 (54.3%) had human blood only, 24 (29.6%) mixed blood, and 13 (16.0%) animal blood only. An. arabiensis was opportunistic, while An. gambiae s.s. and An. funestus s.s. remained strongly anthropophilic. Livestock shifts feeding toward animals and increases outdoor activity but does not eliminate human feeding, highlighting the need for integrated malaria control strategies.
Based on the reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulatory properties of diphenyleneiodonium (DPI), we investigated the effects of DPI on host-infected T. gondii proliferation and determined specific concentration that inhibit the intracellular parasite growth but without severe toxic effect on human retinal pigment epithelial (ARPE-19) cells. As a result, it is observed that host superoxide, mitochondria superoxide and H2O2 levels can be increased by DPI, significantly, followed by suppression of T. gondii infection and proliferation. The involvement of ROS in anti-parasitic effect of DPI was confirmed by finding that DPI effect on T. gondii can be reversed by ROS scavengers, N-acetyl-L-cysteine and ascorbic acid. These results suggest that, in ARPE-19 cell, DPI can enhance host ROS generation to prevent T. gondii growth. Our study showed DPI is capable of suppressing T. gondii growth in host cells while minimizing the un-favorite side-effect to host cell. These results imply that DPI as a promising candidate material for novel drug development that can ameliorate toxoplasmosis based on ROS regulation.
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