Abstract
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has established centers at 16 locations to screen vector populations and pathogens. The aims of this study were to determine the relative spatiotemporal distributions of mosquitoes that are flavivirus vectors, and to correlate them with instances of flaviviral disease in the Republic of Korea (ROK). We collected 67,203 mosquitoes in traps at 36 collection sites in 30 urban regions and migratory bird habitats in 2020. The trap index was 36.6, and the predominant mosquito species were the Culex pipiens complex, Armigeres subalbatus, Aedes albopictus, Aedes vexans, and Culex tritaeniorhynchus. The mosquitoes were pooled into 4953 pools to monitor flavivirus infection. We determined that the minimum infection rate of flavivirus was 0.01%. Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) was detected in only seven pools of Culex orientalis from Sangju, and we isolated JVE from two pools. All detected JEV was found to be genotype V by phylogenetic analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to isolate genotype V JVE from Culex orientalis in the ROK. Subsequent geographical and ecological studies on mosquitoes will help improve our understanding of the relative risk of flavivirus infection. Future studies should analyze mosquito species distribution and improve flavivirus monitoring and long-term surveillance.
Highlights
Several infectious diseases are transmitted by mosquitoes, and millions of people die annually from them [1]
It is believed that the annual increases in mean atmospheric temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity associated with global warming could be aggravating the incidence and severity of the aforementioned viral infections by making environmental conditions more conducive to mosquito vector propagation
Flaviviruses belong to the family Flaviviridae, and the infections they cause have been continuously reported in urban areas throughout subtropical and tropical regions worldwide [4]
Summary
Several infectious diseases are transmitted by mosquitoes, and millions of people die annually from them [1]. There are 9 genera and 56 species of mosquitoes in the Republic of Korea [2]. The three main genera are: Culex spp., which harbor Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus (JEV) and arbovirus; Anopheles spp., which transmit malaria; and Aedes spp., which transmit Zika, dengue, yellow, and Chikungunya fevers [3]. It is believed that the annual increases in mean atmospheric temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity associated with global warming could be aggravating the incidence and severity of the aforementioned viral infections by making environmental conditions more conducive to mosquito vector propagation. From 2016 to 2020, 34 clinical cases of Zika virus infection, 959 cases of dengue fever, and 35 cases of Chikungunya fever were reported in the Republic of
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