Vector competence of selected North American Anopheles and Culex mosquitoes for Zika virus.

Brittany L Dodson,Sujit Pujhari,Jason L Rasgon

doi:10.7717/peerj.4324

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a vector-borne flavivirus that has caused recent outbreaks associated with serious disease in infants and newborns in the Americas. Aedes mosquitoes are the primary vectors for ZIKV, but little is known about the diversity of mosquitoes that can transmit ZIKV in North America. We chose three abundant North American mosquito species (Anopheles freeborni, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, and Culex tarsalis) and one known vector species (Aedes aegypti), fed them blood meals supplemented with a recent outbreak ZIKV strain, and tested bodies, legs, and saliva for infectious ZIKV. ZIKV was able to infect, disseminate, and be transmitted by Aedes aegypti. However, Anopheles freeborni, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, and Culex tarsalis were unable to be infected. We conclude that these species are unlikely to be involved in ZIKV transmission in North America. However, we should continue to examine the ability for other mosquito species to potentially act as ZIKV vectors in North America.

Highlights

Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne flavivirus that has caused epidemics in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Pacific Islands (Roth et al, 2014; Guerbois et al, 2016; Hennessey, Fischer & Staples, 2016; Musso & Gubler, 2016; Tognarelli et al, 2016; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017a)
Anopheles freeborni (F1 strain, MRA-130), An. quadrimaculatus (Orlando strain, MRA-139), and Culex tarsalis (Yolo strain, NR-43026, colony originated from Yolo County CA in 2003) were provided by BEI resources (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Manassas, VA)
Mosquitoes were provided with cotton pads soaked with 10% sugar for maintenance and fed anonymous expired human blood (Biological Specialty Corporation, Colmar, PA; anticoagulant = citrate phosphate dextrose adenine) using a glass feeder jacketed with 37 ◦C distilled water for colony propagation and experimental virus infections

Summary

Introduction

Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne flavivirus that has caused epidemics in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Pacific Islands (Roth et al, 2014; Guerbois et al, 2016; Hennessey, Fischer & Staples, 2016; Musso & Gubler, 2016; Tognarelli et al, 2016; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017a). Symptomatic infections are usually self-limiting, causing rash and flu-like symptoms, but have been associated with more severe complications including microcephaly in newborns and young children and Guillain–Barre syndrome in adults (Oehler et al, 2014; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2015; Mlakar et al., How to cite this article Dodson et al (2018), Vector competence of selected North American Anopheles and Culex mosquitoes for Zika virus.

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