Rates of acquisition and loss of parasitic infection in the vector host of Wuchereria bancrofti were estimated using a new method. The age of parasitic infections was estimated from the abdominal condition, determined on the basis of Sella's stages of blood digestion and ovary development, and parity of the vector host and larval stages of the parasite. A negative exponential relationship between age and number of W. bancrofti infections provided estimated daily losses of 25.3% and 33.2% of the initial infection from the resting and biting populations, respectively, of the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus. The rates per day of acquisition of infection estimated from resting and biting female Cx. quinquefasciatus were found to be 9.6% and 8.6%, respectively. The mean minimum developmental time for W. bancrofti infective larvae estimated from the natural resting and biting populations were 8.9 +/- 1.41 (+/- SEM) and 8.33 +/- 0.85 days, respectively, which was somewhat less than the duration observed under laboratory conditions. Comparisons of the estimates (mean age, rates of acquisition, and loss of infections) based on the resting and biting data suggest that the rates are independent of the method of collecting mosquitoes.