Abstract
Culex pipiens molestus female mosquitoes were infected with strains of West Nile virus by parenteral injection of small amounts of the virus. A modified strain of WN virus (PL 44 + 45), produced on chick fibroblast agar plates, developed readily in the adult mosquitoes, and produced virus concentrations of about 106 mouse ic LD50 per mosquito. Modified PL 44 + 45 virus did not lose its characteristic nonpathogenicity to weanling white Swiss mice by ip inoculation after replication in C. molestus. An infection of C. molestus with PL 44 + 45 suppressed the subsequent development of the Egypt 101 strain of West Nile virus in these mosquitoes following a challenge inoculation 7 days after the initial infection. The mechanism of this acquired resistance in the mosquito is unknown; one possibility is competition between antigenically similar or idtentical viruses for cellular substrates.
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