FRUCTOSE VARIATION IN THE DENGUE VECTOR, AEDES AEGYPTI, DURING HIGH AND LOW TRANSMISSION SEASONS IN THE MAE SOT REGION OF THAILAND

To understand the potential for facultative sugar feeding by Aedes aegypti, an important vector of dengue viruses, we evaluated seasonal and villagewide variation in sugar feeding during high– and low–dengue transmission seasons (rainy and dry seasons, respectively) in the Mae Sot region of Thailand. These seasons in Thailand are represented by different periods of flowering plant phenology. Although overall sugar feeding among female and male mosquitoes was low (ranging from 0.60 to 7.53 μg fructose per mosquito), sugar feeding among females was significantly greater during the dry, low–dengue transmission season. This variation could reflect specific preferences for flowering plants that were abundant in and around village homes during the dry season, such as Bougainvillea, Hibiscus, and Euphorbia.