Despite the critical role that contact between hosts and vectors, through vector bites, plays in driving vector-borne disease (VBD) transmission, transmission risk is primarily studied through the lens of vector density and overlooks host–vector contact dynamics. This review article synthesizes current knowledge of host–vector contact with an emphasis on mosquito bites. It provides a framework including biological and mathematical definitions of host–mosquito contact rate, blood-feeding rate, and per capita biting rates. We describe how contact rates vary and how this variation is influenced by mosquito and vertebrate factors. Our framework challenges a classic assumption that mosquitoes bite at a fixed rate determined by the duration of their gonotrophic cycle. We explore alternative ecological assumptions based on the functional response, blood index, forage ratio, and ideal free distribution within a mechanistic host–vector contact model. We highlight that host–vector contact is a critical parameter that integrates many factors driving disease transmission. A renewed focus on contact dynamics between hosts and vectors will contribute new insights into the mechanisms behind VBD spread and emergence that are sorely lacking. Given the framework for including contact rates as an explicit component of mathematical models of VBD, as well as different methods to study contact rates empirically to move the field forward, researchers should explicitly test contact rate models with empirical studies. Such integrative studies promise to enhance understanding of extrinsic and intrinsic factors affecting host–vector contact rates and thus are critical to understand both the mechanisms driving VBD emergence and guiding their prevention and control.

中文翻译：

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人与蚊子的接触：我们对蚊媒疾病传播动力学的理解中缺失的一环


尽管宿主和媒介之间通过媒介叮咬进行的接触在推动媒介传播疾病（VBD）传播中发挥着关键作用，但传播风险主要是通过媒介密度的角度来研究的，而忽略了宿主与媒介接触的动态。这篇综述文章综合了当前宿主与媒介接触的知识，重点关注蚊虫叮咬。它提供了一个框架，包括宿主-蚊子接触率、吸血率和人均叮咬率的生物学和数学定义。我们描述了接触率如何变化以及这种变化如何受到蚊子和脊椎动物因素的影响。我们的框架挑战了一个经典假设，即蚊子以固定的速度叮咬，该固定的速度由其生殖周期的持续时间决定。我们基于机械宿主-媒介接触模型内的功能反应、血液指数、饲料比率和理想自由分布探索替代生态假设。我们强调，宿主-媒介接触是一个关键参数，综合了驱动疾病传播的许多因素。重新关注宿主和媒介之间的接触动态将为目前非常缺乏的 VBD 传播和出现背后的机制提供新的见解。考虑到将接触率作为 VBD 数学模型的明确组成部分的框架，以及实证研究接触率以推动该领域向前发展的不同方法，研究人员应该通过实证研究明确测试接触率模型。此类综合研究有望增强对影响宿主-媒介接触率的外在和内在因素的理解，因此对于了解驱动 VBD 出现的机制并指导其预防和控制至关重要。