Abstract
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a vector-borne alphavirus transmitted by the bites of mosquitoes, specifically infected, female mosquitoes of the invasive Aedes species. In nature, CHIKV can be maintained by vertical transmission, a phenomenon that relates to the transfer of CHIKV from the infected parent to their offspring within the ovary or during oviposition. In the present study, we conducted laboratory experiments to determine vertical transmission with Ae. albopictus populations from Brazil and Florida. Parental Ae. albopictus females were orally infected with the emergent Asian genotype of CHIKV in the first gonotrophic cycle (infectious blood meal) and tested for vertical transmission following the second (non-infectious blood meal) gonotrophic cycle. CHIKV infection and CHIKV viral titer in parental females were significantly related to population origin, with Brazilian Ae. albopictus showing higher viral dissemination and viral titer than the Florida population. Experimental vertical transmission of CHIKV was documented in one pool of female and four pools of male Ae. albopictus from Brazil (minimum infection rate, MIR, of 0.76% and 2.86%, respectively, for females and males). For the Florida population of Ae. albopictus, only one pool of males was positive for CHIKV infection, with an MIR of 1.06%. Our results demonstrate that Ae. albopictus populations from Brazil and Florida show heterogeneous CHIKV dissemination and vertical transmission, which may contribute to the epidemiology of CHIKV and may be particularly relevant to virus survival during inter-epidemic periods.
Highlights
Mosquito-borne arboviruses like dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), and Chikungunya (CHIKV) are important public health challenges in tropical and subtropical regions [1,2]
The Ae. albopictus strain used in this experiment were F2 from Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Brazil, and Okeechobee (OK), Florida, United States, respectively
Our results show an MIR below the level proposed by the authors, we believe that further laboratory and field investigations should be done to quantify vertical transmission under experimental and field situations, to further study the importance of this type of arbovirus transmission in the epidemiology of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), especially in places where Ae. albopictus might act as the main or secondary vector
Summary
Mosquito-borne arboviruses like dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), and Chikungunya (CHIKV) are important public health challenges in tropical and subtropical regions [1,2]. Aedes albopictus and Ae. aegypti are considered important invasive mosquitoes, successfully invading and colonizing human-dominated environments worldwide [9], and both species are widely distributed in the Americas [10]. The later species is highly anthropophilic and exhibits endophilic behavior, feeding, and resting inside human dwellings, and it is mostly associated with high human density [11,14] Both Aedes species from Brazil and Florida are considered competent vectors for CHIKV under experimental conditions [15,16,17]. We determined experimentally for the first time the vertical transmission of the emergent Asian genotype of CHIKV in Brazilian and Florida populations of Ae. albopictus
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