Pathogens Enter Mosquito’s Salivary Glands through the Existing Lesions in their Organs: A Potential Transmission Mechanism for Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Whether pathogens in the ingested blood meal can enter the salivary glands of mosquitoes is a decisive factor in disease transmission. Unlike the known mosquito-borne pathogens (e.g. ZIKA, dengue, etc.), most human pathogens cannot enter the salivary glands of mosquitoes, and their survival time inside mosquito is usually short. Studies have reported that some mosquito species infected with certain mosquito-borne pathogens developed lesions in organs (e.g. holes in the midgut). Therefore, some of the pathogens which cannot enter the salivary glands of mosquitoes on their own (PWCESGMTO) may quickly enter using the existing lesions in the organs. This highly plausible issue has been neglected in research, and may involve the transmission of many infectious diseases. Since PWCESGMTOes can usually survive inside mosquitoes for only short period, successful transmission occurs only if mosquitoes bite a non-infected person before the ingested pathogens die. Therefore, the infected people should usually be in close proximity. The present paper discusses the neglected issue and the puzzling correlation between mosquitoes and three example diseases, and calls for urgent research into the issue.