Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>A vertically transmitted microsporidian, <jats:italic>Microsporidia MB</jats:italic>, with the ability to disrupt <jats:italic>Plasmodium</jats:italic> development was reported in <jats:italic>Anopheles arabiensis</jats:italic> from Kenya, East Africa. To demonstrate its range of incidence, archived DNA samples from 7575 <jats:italic>Anopheles</jats:italic> mosquitoes collected from Ghana were screened. <jats:italic>MB</jats:italic> prevalence was observed at 1.8%. <jats:italic>An. gambiae</jats:italic> s.s constituted 87% of positive mosquitoes while the remaining were from <jats:italic>An. coluzzii</jats:italic>. Both sibling species had similar positivity rates (24% and 19%; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.42) despite the significantly higher number of <jats:italic>An. gambiae</jats:italic> s.s analysed (<jats:italic>An. gambiae</jats:italic> s.s = 487; <jats:italic>An. coluzzii</jats:italic> = 94; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.0005). The microsporidian was also more prevalent in emerged adults from field-collected larvae than field-caught adults (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> < 0.0001) suggestive of an efficient vertical transmission and/or horizontal transfer among larvae. This is the first report of <jats:italic>Microsporidia MB</jats:italic> in <jats:italic>Anopheles</jats:italic> mosquitoes in West Africa. It indicates possible widespread among malaria vector species and warrants investigations into the symbiont’s diversity across sub-Saharan Africa.</jats:p>