Abstract
We report that two laboratory colonies of Culex quinquefasciatus and Culex pipiens mosquitoes were experimentally unable to transmit ZIKV either up to 21 days post an infectious blood meal or up to 14 days post intrathoracic inoculation. Infectious viral particles were detected in bodies, heads or saliva by a plaque forming unit assay on Vero cells. We therefore consider it unlikely that Culex mosquitoes are involved in the rapid spread of ZIKV.
Highlights
First discovered in 1947 in Uganda, ZIKV became a major public health concern after its emergence in Yap Island, Micronesia, in 2007 [8] and French Polynesia in 2013–14 [9]
Because they are commonly found in temperate and tropical regions [16], respectively, they could strongly increase the risk of urban ZIKV outbreaks occurring
Cx. quinquefasciatus is mainly associated with human habitats and can experimentally transmit West Nile virus (WNV), making it an ideal vector for domestic/urban transmission of WNV in tropical regions [20]
Summary
First discovered in 1947 in Uganda, ZIKV became a major public health concern after its emergence in Yap Island, Micronesia, in 2007 [8] and French Polynesia in 2013–14 [9]. Its arrival in Latin America in 2015 led to a rapid regional spread of outbreaks of ZIKV infection associated with unusually severe effects, Guillain– Barré syndrome [10] and microcephaly in newborns [11]. Ae. aegypti mainly colonises tropical areas and can share the same regions with Ae. albopictus, which has succeeded in invading some temperate countries [15]. The aim of our study was to assess the putative role of two mosquito species from the Culex pipiens complex, namely Cx. pipiens and Cx. quinquefasciatus, in ZIKV transmission. Because they are commonly found in temperate and tropical regions [16], respectively, they could strongly increase the risk of urban ZIKV outbreaks occurring
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