Overview
- Field sampling in two Rio de Janeiro reserves captured 1,714 mosquitoes across 52 species; 145 were engorged and 24 identifiable blood meals included 18 humans, six birds, one amphibian, one canid and one mouse, with some mixed meals.
- Authors hypothesize that deforestation and biodiversity loss are reducing alternative hosts, pushing more mosquito feeding onto people in a biome where roughly a third of the original forest remains.
- The pattern raises concern for heightened transmission of mosquito-borne diseases present in the region, including yellow fever, dengue, Zika, chikungunya, Mayaro and Sabiá.
- The study flags major constraints—fewer than 7% of captures were blood-fed and only about 38% of those meals were identifiable—along with potential trap bias, DNA degradation in transit and challenges resolving mixed meals.
- The team plans continued tracking of mosquito movements and the development of improved traps to boost sample sizes, and urges targeted surveillance alongside longer-term ecosystem-restoration measures.