SALIVARY GLAND BACTERIAL COMPOSITION OF FEMALE ANOPHELES MOSQUITOES IN BAMESSINGUE LOCALITY, MBOUDA, WEST REGION OF CAMEROON: A BASELINE INVESTIGATION

The extent to which there is a causal relationship between Plasmodium infection and bacteraemia is unknown. It remains unclear whether such infections are attributable to female Anopheles mosquitoes’ bite during a blood meal, other risk factors or are coincidental. As such, in taking a blood meal, the mosquito can introduce bacteria into the blood stream of man which if it is positive with Plasmodium, the victim suffers the risk of mixed infection with bacteria and parasite. This study was aimed at determining the salivary gland bacterial composition of the female Anopheles mosquitoes in Bamessingue locality, Mbouda, West Region of Cameroon so as to provide a baseline understanding about the relationship between female Anopheles mosquitoes’ bite and bacteraemia of unknown origin. An experimental study was carried out at Standard Medical Diagnostic and Research Centre Mbouda. Six female Anopheles mosquitoes were collected from Bamessingue locality in Mbouda. They were anaesthetised by chloroform and dissected aseptically and their salivary gland extracts were extracted for culture. They were inoculated on blood agar, chocolate agar, MacConkey and Chapman agar and cultured at 35±2°C for 24 hours. Isolation and identification of bacteria strains was done using standardized methods. From the field collected female Anopheles mosquitoes, Staphylococcus aureus was proven to be the dominant bacteria isolated from the salivary gland of the female Anopheles mosquitoes, followed by Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and lastly Klebsiella pneumoniae. This is the first time Staphylococcus aureus is identified with the highest abundance from the salivary glands of female Anopheles mosquitoes and could be a potential cause of bacteraemia by the female Anopheles mosquito’s bite during a blood meal. It is thus recommended that similar studies should be carried out in others regions in order to sort out the possible bacteria responsible for bacteraemia in their various localities.