First detection of natural infection of Aedes aegypti with Zika virus in Brazil and throughout South America

Anielly Ferreira-De-Brito,Ricardo Lourenço-De-Oliveira,Ieda P Ribeiro,Stéphanie Silva Campos,Patrícia Brasil,Rafaella Moraes De Miranda,Rosilainy Surubi Fernandes,Keli Antunes Barbosa Da Silva,Myrna C Bonaldo,Marcia Gonçalves De Castro

doi:10.1590/0074-02760160332

Anielly Ferreira-De-Brito, Ricardo Lourenço-De-Oliveira + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0074-02760160332

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Journal: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz	Publication Date: Oct 1, 2016
Citations: 155	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) has caused a major epidemic in Brazil and several other American countries. ZIKV is an arbovirus whose natural vectors during epidemics have been poorly determined. In this study, 1,683 mosquitoes collected in the vicinity of ZIKV suspected cases in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 2015 to May 2016 were screened for natural infection by using molecular methods. Three pools of Aedes aegypti were found with the ZIKV genome, one of which had only one male. This finding supports the occurrence of vertical and/or venereal transmission of ZIKV in Ae. aegypti in nature. None of the examined Ae. albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus was positive. This is the first report of natural infection by ZIKV in mosquitoes in Brazil and other South American countries. So far, Ae. aegypti is the only confirmed vector of ZIKV during the ongoing Pan-American epidemics.

Highlights

Mosquitoes were caught indoors and around domiciles of suspected Zika cases soon after the emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV) in Rio de Janeiro (Brasil et al 2016), from June 2015 to May 2016
We report natural infections in mosquitoes during the Zika outbreak in Rio de Janeiro (Brasil et al 2016), with the goal of determining the local natural ZIKV vectors
To confirm ZIKV infection, the homogenate of the mosquito pool, positive when tested by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), was submitted to a RT-PCR

Summary

Introduction

Mosquitoes were caught indoors and around domiciles of suspected Zika cases soon after the emergence of ZIKV in Rio de Janeiro (Brasil et al 2016), from June 2015 to May 2016. While natural infections of ZIKV have been found in several hematophagous species in the enzootic cycles in Africa, viral detection in mosquitoes in epidemic urban areas have intriguingly been scarce to non-existent (Haddow et al 1964, Faye et al 2013, Diallo et al 2014, Diagne et al 2015, Musso & Gubler 2016).

Results

Conclusion