Sangare I. auteur aut IRD Michalakis Y. auteur aut IRD Yameogo B. auteur aut IRD Dabiré R. auteur aut IRD Morlais Isabelle auteur aut IRD Cohuet Anna auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access Background: The question whether Plasmodium falciparum infection affects the fitness of mosquito vectors remains open. A hurdle for resolving this question is the lack of appropriate control, non-infected mosquitoes that can be compared to the infected ones. It was shown recently that heating P. falciparum gametocyte-infected blood before feeding by malaria vectors inhibits the infection. Therefore, the same source of gametocyte-infected blood could be divided in two parts, one heated, serving as the control, the other unheated, allowing the comparison of infected and uninfected mosquitoes which fed on exactly the same blood otherwise. However, before using this method for characterizing the cost of infection to mosquitoes, it is necessary to establish whether feeding on previously heated blood affects the survival and fecundity of mosquito females. Methods: Anopheles gambiae M molecular form females were exposed to heated versus non-heated, parasite-free human blood to mimic blood meal on non-infectious versus infectious gametocyte-containing blood. Life history traits of mosquito females fed on blood that was heat-treated or not were then compared. Results: The results reveal that heat treatment of the blood did not affect the survival and fecundity of mosquito females. Consistently, blood heat treatment did not affect the quantity of blood ingested. Conclusions: The study indicates that heat inactivation of gametocyte-infected blood will only inhibit mosquito infection and that this method is suitable for quantifying the fitness cost incurred by mosquitoes upon infection by P. falciparum. specialized Plasmodium falciparum Vectors Infection cost Negative control Fitness BURKINA FASO 052 020 12 1 2 2013 1475-2875 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010058931 10.1186/1475-2875-12-2 1475-2875 [F B010058931] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010058931 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers17-08/010058931.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2013-03-06 2020-07-13 fdi:010058931 fre