Haematophagous insects are frequently carriers of parasitic diseases, including malaria.
Harald Biessmann, Evi Andronopoulou, Max R. Biessmann, Vassilis Douris, Spiros D.Dimitratos, Elias Eliopoulos, Patrick M. Guerin, Kostas Iatrou, Robin W. Justice,Thomas Kröber, Osvaldo Marinotti, Panagiota Tsitoura, Daniel F. Woods, Marika F. Walter 2010, 'The Anopheles gambiae Odorant Binding Protein 1 (AgamOBP1) Mediates Indole Recognitionin the Antennae of Female Mosquitoes', PLoS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.0009471. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Many haematophagous insects produce factors that help their blood meal and coincidently favor pathogen transmission.
Nonito Pages, Emmanuel Bréard, Céline Urien, Sandra Talavera, Cyril Viarouge, CristinaLorca-Oro, Luc Jouneau, Bernard Charley, Stéphan Zientara, Albert Bensaid, David Solanes,Joan Pujols, Isabelle Schwartz-Cornil 2014, 'Culicoides midge bites modulate the host response and impact on bluetongue virus infectionin sheep.', PLoS ONEhttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3885445?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The complement cascade in mammalian blood can damage the alimentary tract of haematophagous arthropods.
Cher-Pheng Ooi, Lee R Haines, Daniel M Southern, Michael J Lehane, Alvaro Acosta-Serrano 2015, 'Tsetse GmmSRPN10 has anti-complement activity and is important for successful establishmentof trypanosome infections in the fly midgut.', PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseaseshttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4287558?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Exogenous vertebrate-derived factors circulating in the blood have the capacity to modulate the biology of haematophagous insects.
Shüné V. Oliver, Basil D. Brooke 2017, 'The effects of ingestion of hormonal host factors on the longevity and insecticideresistance phenotype of the major malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis (Diptera: Culicidae)',PLOS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.0180909. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are maintained in nature by cycling between vertebrate hosts and haematophagous invertebrate vectors.
Alexander T. Ciota, Laura D. Kramer 2010, 'Insights into Arbovirus Evolution and Adaptation from Experimental Studies', Viruseshttp://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/2/12/2594/. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Furthermore, rodents are defensive hosts for this haematophagous insect which looks for another host to complete blood-feeding.
Gabriel Z. Laporta, Thaís B. Crivelaro, Elaine C. Vicentin, Priscila Amaro, MariaS. Branquinho, Maria Anice M. Sallum 2008, 'Culex nigripalpus Theobald (Diptera, Culicidae) feeding habit at the Parque Ecológicodo Tietê, São Paulo, Brazil Hábito alimentar de Culex nigripalpus Theobald (Diptera,Culicidae) no Parque Ecológico do Tietê, São Paulo, Brasil', Revista Brasileira de Entomologiahttp://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0085-56262008000400019. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
A range of protistan parasites occur in the blood of vertebrates and are transmitted by haematophagous invertebrate vectors.
Peter O'Donoghue 2017, 'Haemoprotozoa: Making biological sense of molecular phylogenies', International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlifehttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221322441730069X. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Similar to other haematophagous insects, sand flies use volatile compounds called kairomones to locate their hosts for blood meals.
Flávia Benini da Rocha Silva, Danilo Ciccone Miguel, Vicente Estevam Machado, WandersonHenrique Cruz Oliveira, Thais Marchi Goulart, Christiann Davis Tosta, Hildete PriscoPinheiro, Mara Cristina Pinto 2019, 'Influence of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis infection on the attractiveness ofBALB/c mice to Nyssomyia neivai (Diptera: Psychodidae).', PLoS ONEhttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6443145?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
An analysis of the dietary content of haematophagous insects can provide important information about the transmissionnetworks of certain zoonoses.
Vítor Yamashiro Rocha Soares, Jailthon Carlos da Silva, Kleverton Ribeiro da Silva,Maria do Socorro Pires e Cruz, Marcos Pérsio Dantas Santos, Paulo Eduardo MartinsRibolla, Diego Peres Alonso, Luiz Felipe Leomil Coelho, Dorcas Lamounier Costa, CarlosHenrique Nery Costa 2014, 'Identification of blood meal sources of Lutzomyia longipalpis using polymerase chainreaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the cytochrome B gene',Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762014000300379&lng=en&tlng=en. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Similar to other haematophagous arthropods, bed bugs rely on their olfactory system to detect semiochemicals in the environment.
Immo A Hansen, Stacy D Rodriguez, Lisa L Drake, David P Price, Brittny N Blakely,John I Hammond, Hitoshi Tsujimoto, Erika Y Monroy, William A Maio, Alvaro Romero 2014, 'The odorant receptor co-receptor from the bed bug, Cimex lectularius L.', PLoS ONEhttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4239089?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)