bims-mosdis 2020-05-31 papers

bims-mosdis

Biomed News

on Mosquito distribution and disease

Issue of 2020‒05‒31
twenty-one papers selected by
Richard Halfpenny
Staffordshire University

A Comparison of Adult Mosquito Trapping Methods to Assess Potential West Nile Virus Mosquito Vectors in Greece during the Onset of the 2018 Transmission Season.
Short Report: Asymptomatic Zika virus infections with low viral loads not likely to establish transmission in New Orleans Aedes populations.
Human Blood Feeding by Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Florida Keys and a Review of the Literature.
Long-lasting insecticidal nets and the quest for malaria eradication: a mathematical modeling approach.
Monitoring Insecticide Susceptibility in Aedes Aegypti Populations from the Two Biggest Cities, Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, in Burkina Faso: Implication of Metabolic Resistance.
Arbovirus expansion: new species of culicids infected by the Chikungunya virus in an urban park of Brazil.
Mosquito-borne viruses, insect-specific flaviviruses (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus), Banna virus (family Reoviridae, genus Seadornavirus), Bogor virus (unassigned member of family Permutotetraviridae), and alphamesoniviruses 2 and 3 (family Mesoniviridae, genus Alphamesonivirus) isolated from Indonesian mosquitoes.
Inter-annual variability of the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic drivers affecting West Nile virus vector Culex pipiens population dynamics in northeastern Italy.
Zika virus in southeastern Senegal: survival of the vectors and the virus during the dry season.
Impact of Gut Bacteria on the Infection and Transmission of Pathogenic Arboviruses by Biting Midges and Mosquitoes.
A simplified method for blood feeding, oral infection, and saliva collection of the dengue vector mosquitoes.
Phylogeny of Anopheles (Kerteszia) (Diptera: Culicidae) Using Mitochondrial Genes.
Experimental determination of the force of malaria infection reveals a non-linear relationship to mosquito sporozoite loads.
Inter-Population Similarities and Differences in Predation Efficiency of a Mosquito Natural Enemy.
Synchrony of globally invasive Aedes spp. immature mosquitoes along an urban altitudinal gradient in their native range.
A Review: Wolbachia-Based Population Replacement for Mosquito Control Shares Common Points with Genetically Modified Control Approaches.
Dengue Vaccine: A Key for Prevention.
Exome-wide association study reveals largely distinct gene sets underlying specific resistance to dengue virus types 1 and 3 in Aedes aegypti.
[Effect of several human metabolic compounds for trapping Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus].
Performance of an aerially applied liquid Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis formulation (strain AM65-52) against mosquitoes in mixed saltmarsh-mangrove systems and fine-scale mapping of mangrove canopy cover using affordable drone-based imagery.
Botanical insecticide-based nanosystems for the control of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti larvae.

Insects. 2020 May 27. pii: E329. [Epub ahead of print]11(6):

A Comparison of Adult Mosquito Trapping Methods to Assess Potential West Nile Virus Mosquito Vectors in Greece during the Onset of the 2018 Transmission Season.

Marina Bisia, Claire L Jeffries, Ioanna Lytra, Antonios Michaelakis, Thomas Walker.

  West Nile virus (WNV) threatens the health of humans and equines worldwide. Culex (Cx.) pipiens complex mosquitoes are major vectors but numerous other species have been implicated. Due to variations in blood-feeding behaviour, Cx. pipiens biotypes and hybrids influence transmission, from enzootic cycles (between mosquitoes and birds), to spill-over transmission to humans and equines. In this study, mosquitoes were collected in May-June 2018 during the early period of the transmission season from two regional units of Greece, where WNV cases had been reported in the previous four years (Palaio Faliro and Argolida). A total of 1062 mosquitoes were collected with Biogents Sentinel 2 traps collecting both a greater number of all mosquito species and the Cx. pipiens complex than CDC miniature light traps or Heavy Duty EVS traps. Molecular identification confirmed additional species including Aedes albopictus. The proportion of Cx. pipiens biotypes in Palaio Faliro was 54.5% pipiens, 20.0% molestus and 25.5% hybrids. In Argolida, the collection comprised 68.1% pipiens biotype, 8.3% molestus biotype and 23.6% hybrids. Screening resulted in WNV detection in three females of the pipiens biotype and in one hybrid. As hybrids play a role in spill-over transmission, these findings highlight the importance of entomological surveillance programs incorporating molecular xenomonitoring as an early warning before human cases at the onset of the transmission season.

Keywords:  Culex pipiens complex; West Nile virus; molecular xenomonitoring; mosquitoes

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11060329
PLoS One. 2020 ;15(5): e0233309

Short Report: Asymptomatic Zika virus infections with low viral loads not likely to establish transmission in New Orleans Aedes populations.

Matthew J Ward, Brendan H Carter, Christine E S Walsh, Joshua O Yukich, Dawn M Wesson, Rebecca C Christofferson.

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are both vectors of Zika virus and both are endemic to the New Orleans Metropolitan area. Fortunately, to date there has been no known autochthonous transmission of Zika virus in New Orleans. No studies of the vector competence of local populations of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus for Zika virus transmission have been conducted. To determine if New Orleans Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes are competent for Zika virus, mosquitoes were reared to generation F3 from eggs collected in New Orleans during the 2018 mosquito season. Adults were fed an infectious blood meal and kept for 15 days in an environmental chamber. Transmission assays were conducted at 4, 10, and 15 days post exposure and RT-PCR was run on bodies and saliva to detect the presence of Zika virus RNA. We observed remarkably low susceptibility of both Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus from New Orleans to a Zika strain from Panama after oral challenge. These results suggest a limited risk of Zika virus transmission should it be introduced to the New Orleans area, and may partially explain why no transmission was detected in Louisiana during the 2016 epidemic in the Americas, despite multiple known travel associated introductions to New Orleans. Despite these results these mosquito populations are known to be competent vectors for some other mosquito-borne viruses and control measures should not be relaxed.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233309
J Med Entomol. 2020 May 24. pii: tjaa083. [Epub ahead of print]

Human Blood Feeding by Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Florida Keys and a Review of the Literature.

Catherine A Pruszynski, Tanise Stenn, Carolina Acevedo, Andrea L Leal, Nathan D Burkett-Cadena.

  Aedes aegypti L. is considered to have a proclivity for feeding on human blood even when other hosts are available. However, few studies have demonstrated host use by this mosquito in the continental United States, where local transmission of dengue, Zika, and chikungunya viruses has been recently documented. This study investigated the bloodmeal sources of female Ae. aegypti in the subtropical city of Key West and the surrounding county in Florida with the goal of identifying preferred hosts. Blood-engorged Ae. aegypti mosquitoes were collected from BG Sentinel traps used as part of a routine surveillance program in the Florida Keys (Monroe County, Florida). Bloodmeal samples were analyzed using PCR assays, sequencing, and comparison with reference sequences in GenBank. Aedes aegypti females from Key West fed predominantly on humans (79.6%) and did not differ statistically from females collected from the rest of the Florida Keys (69.5%). Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae), considered a host generalist, was collected and analyzed from the same sites for comparative purposes. Females of Cx. quinquefasciatus fed predominantly (70.7%) on birds and nonhuman mammals in the Florida Keys, corroborating the validity of molecular assay breadth and demonstrating that given the same group of available hosts Ae. aegypti selects humans. Our results indicated that Ae. aegypti has a high rate of human-biting in a subtropical area within the United States, supporting its role in recent local transmission of dengue and other viruses.

Keywords:   Culex quinquefasciatus ; Florida; bloodmeal; mosquito

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjaa083
J Math Biol. 2020 May 23.

Long-lasting insecticidal nets and the quest for malaria eradication: a mathematical modeling approach.

Iboi Enahoro, Steffen Eikenberry, Abba B Gumel, Silvie Huijben, Krijn Paaijmans.

  Recent dramatic declines in global malaria burden and mortality can be largely attributed to the large-scale deployment of insecticidal-based measures, namely long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying. However, the sustainability of these gains, and the feasibility of global malaria eradication by 2040, may be affected by increasing insecticide resistance among the Anopheles malaria vector. We employ a new differential-equations based mathematical model, which incorporates the full, weather-dependent mosquito lifecycle, to assess the population-level impact of the large-scale use of LLINs, under different levels of Anopheles pyrethroid insecticide resistance, on malaria transmission dynamics and control in a community. Moreover, we describe the bednet-mosquito interaction using parameters that can be estimated from the large experimental hut trial literature under varying levels of effective pyrethroid resistance. An expression for the basic reproduction number, [Formula: see text], as a function of population-level bednet coverage, is derived. It is shown, owing to the phenomenon of backward bifurcation, that [Formula: see text] must be pushed appreciably below 1 to eliminate malaria in endemic areas, potentially complicating eradication efforts. Numerical simulations of the model suggest that, when the baseline [Formula: see text] is high (corresponding roughly to holoendemic malaria), very high bednet coverage with highly effective nets is necessary to approach conditions for malaria elimination. Further, while >50% bednet coverage is likely sufficient to strongly control or eliminate malaria from areas with a mesoendemic malaria baseline, pyrethroid resistance could undermine control and elimination efforts even in this setting. Our simulations show that pyrethroid resistance in mosquitoes appreciably reduces bednet effectiveness across parameter space. This modeling study also suggests that increasing pre-bloodmeal deterrence of mosquitoes (deterring them from entry into protected homes) actually hampers elimination efforts, as it may focus mosquito biting onto a smaller unprotected host subpopulation. Finally, we observe that temperature affects malaria potential independently of bednet coverage and pyrethroid-resistance levels, with both climate change and pyrethroid resistance posing future threats to malaria control.

Keywords:  Basic reproduction number; LLINs; Pyrethroid; Temperature effects

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00285-020-01503-z
Trop Med Infect Dis. 2020 May 27. pii: E84. [Epub ahead of print]5(2):

Monitoring Insecticide Susceptibility in Aedes Aegypti Populations from the Two Biggest Cities, Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, in Burkina Faso: Implication of Metabolic Resistance.

Moussa Namountougou, Dieudonné Diloma Soma, Mahamoudou Balboné, Didier Alexandre Kaboré, Mahamadi Kientega, Aristide Hien, Ahmed Coulibaly, Parfait Eric Ouattara, Benson Georges Meda, Samuel Drabo, Lassane Koala, Charles Nignan, Thérèse Kagoné, Abdoulaye Diabaté, Florence Fournet, Olivier Gnankiné, Roch Kounbobr Dabiré.

  In West Africa, Aedes aegypti remains the major vector of dengue virus. Since 2013, dengue fever has been reemerging in Burkina Faso with annual outbreaks, thus becoming a major public health problem. Its control relies on vector control, which is unfortunately facing the problem of insecticide resistance. At the time of this study, although data on phenotypic resistance were available, information related to the metabolic resistance in Aedes populations from Burkina Faso remained very scarce. Here, we assessed the phenotypic and the metabolic resistance of Ae. aegypti populations sampled from the two main urban areas (Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso) of Burkina Faso. Insecticide susceptibility bioassays to chlorpyriphos-methyl 0.4%, bendiocarb 0.1% and deltamethrin 0.05% were performed on natural populations of Ae. aegypti using the WHO protocol. The activity of enzymes involved in the rapid detoxification of insecticides, especially non-specific esterases, oxidases (cytochrome P450) and glutathione-S-transferases, was measured on individual mosquitos. The mortality rates for deltamethrin 0.05% were low and ranged from 20.72% to 89.62% in the Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou sites, respectively. When bendiocarb 0.1% was tested, the mortality rates ranged from 7.73% to 71.23%. Interestingly, in the two urban areas, mosquitoes were found to be fully susceptible to chlorpyriphos-methyl 0.4%. Elevated activity of non-specific esterases and glutathione-S-transferases was reported, suggesting multiple resistance mechanisms involved in Ae. aegypti populations from Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou (including cytochrome P450). This update to the insecticide resistance status within Ae. aegypti populations in the two biggest cities is important to better plan dengue vectors control in the country and provides valuable information for improving vector control strategies in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Keywords:  Aedes aegypti; Burkina Faso; Dengue; Insecticide susceptibility; Metabolic Resistance

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed5020084
Acta Trop. 2020 May 23. pii: S0001-706X(20)30291-6. [Epub ahead of print] 105538

Arbovirus expansion: new species of culicids infected by the Chikungunya virus in an urban park of Brazil.

Maria de Fátima Freire de Melo Ximenes, Josélio Maria de Araújo Galvão, Cássio Lázaro Silva Inacio, Virgínia Penéllope Macêdo E Silva, Raíssa Liane do Nascimento Pereira, Marcos Paulo Gomes Pinheiro, Marcel Miranda de Medeiros Siva, Carlos Eduardo Simões Gomes.

  The Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya viruses have been spreading in tropical regions, causing epidemics with high morbidity rates and fatal cases. The aim of this study was to assess the diversity and abundance of culicid species and the presence of arboviruses in mosquitoes, at the epicenter of an epidemic outbreak that occurred in people living near an urban Atlantic Forest park. Mosquitoes were captured with a Shannon trap between 2 and 6 pm in seven months of 2019. The Chikungunya virus was investigated according to the protocol described by Lanciotti (2007). The most abundant species were Wyeomyia bourrouli (66.9%) and Aedes albopictus (23.9%). Also captured were Aedes fluviatilis (3.2%); Haemagogus leucocelaenus (2.2%); Aedes scapularis (2.2%); Aedes aegypti (1.6%); Aedes serratus and (0.3%) and Aedes taeniorhynchus (0.3%). The Chikungunya virus was identified in A. aegypti females; A. albopictus females and males; Aedes fluviatilis and Wy.bourrouli. The presence of the Chikungunya virus in the afore mentioned mosquitoes reinforces the hypothesis that arbovirus expansion is associated with the participation of other mosquito species in the transmission areas, primarily the Chikungunya virus in the study area. The data also demonstrate the need for permanent entomological surveillance and measures to preserve the area, in order to hinder its degradation, the adaptation of culicid species to new habitats and the formation of enzootic cycles of these viruses in the forest.

Keywords:  Aedes albopictus; Aedes fluviatilis; Tropical Ecosystem; Vectors; Wyeomyia bourrouli; vertical transmission

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105538
J Vet Med Sci. 2020 May 25.

Mosquito-borne viruses, insect-specific flaviviruses (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus), Banna virus (family Reoviridae, genus Seadornavirus), Bogor virus (unassigned member of family Permutotetraviridae), and alphamesoniviruses 2 and 3 (family Mesoniviridae, genus Alphamesonivirus) isolated from Indonesian mosquitoes.

, Ryusei Kuwata, Shun Torii, Hiroshi Shimoda, Keita Ishijima, Kenzo Yonemitsu, Shohei Minami, Yudai Kuroda, Kango Tatemoto, Ngo Thuy Bao Tran, Ai Takano, Tsutomu Omatsu, Tetsuya Mizutani, Kentaro Itokawa, Haruhiko Isawa, Kyoko Sawabe, Tomohiko Takasaki, Dewi Maria Yuliani, Dimas Abiyoga, Upik Kesumawati Hadi, Agus Setiyono, Eiichi Hondo, Srihadi Agungpriyono, Ken Maeda.

  Mosquitoes transmit many kinds of arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses), and numerous arboviral diseases have become serious problems in Indonesia. In this study, we conducted surveillance of mosquito-borne viruses at several sites in Indonesia during 2016-2018 for risk assessment of arbovirus infection and analysis of virus biodiversity in mosquito populations. We collected 10,015 mosquitoes comprising at least 11 species from 4 genera. Major collected mosquito species were Culex quinquefasciatus, Aedes albopictus, Culex tritaeniorhynchus, Aedes aegypti, and Armigeres subalbatus. The collected mosquitoes were divided into 285 pools and used for virus isolation using two mammalian cell lines, Vero and BHK-21, and one mosquito cell line, C6/36. Seventy-two pools showed clear cytopathic effects only in C6/36 cells. Using RT-PCR and next-generation sequencing approaches, these isolates were identified as insect flaviviruses (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus), Banna virus (family Reoviridae, genus Seadornavirus), new permutotetravirus (designed as Bogor virus) (family Permutotetraviridae, genus Alphapermutotetravirus), and alphamesoniviruses 2 and 3 (family Mesoniviridae, genus Alphamesonivirus). We believed that this large surveillance of mosquitoes and mosquito-borne viruses provides basic information for the prevention and control of emerging and re-emerging arboviral diseases.

Keywords:  Banna virus; insect flavivirus; mesonivirus; mosquito; permutotetravirus

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1292/jvms.20-0261
Parasit Vectors. 2020 May 29. 13(1): 271

Inter-annual variability of the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic drivers affecting West Nile virus vector Culex pipiens population dynamics in northeastern Italy.

Diletta Fornasiero, Matteo Mazzucato, Marco Barbujani, Fabrizio Montarsi, Gioia Capelli, Paolo Mulatti.

  BACKGROUND: Vector-borne infectious diseases (VBDs) represent a major public health concern worldwide. Among VBDs, West Nile virus (WNV) showed an increasingly wider spread in temperate regions of Europe, including Italy. During the last decade, WNV outbreaks have been recurrently reported in mosquitoes, horses, wild birds, and humans, showing great variability in the temporal and spatial distribution pattern. Due to the complexity of the environment-host-vector-pathogen interaction and the incomplete understanding of the epidemiological pattern of the disease, WNV occurrences can be difficult to predict. The analyses of ecological drivers responsible for the earlier WNV reactivation and transmission are pivotal; in particular, variations in the vector population dynamics may represent a key point of the recent success of WNV and, more in general, of the VBDs.METHODS: We investigated the variations of Culex pipiens population abundance using environmental, climatic and trapping data obtained over nine years (2010 to 2018) through the WNV entomological surveillance programme implemented in northeastern Italy. An information theoretic approach (IT-AICc) and model-averaging algorithms were implemented to examine the relationship between the seasonal mosquito population growth rates and both intrinsic (e.g. intraspecific competition) and extrinsic (e.g. environmental and climatic variables) predictors, to identify the most significant combinations of variables outlining the Cx. pipiens population dynamics.
RESULTS: Population abundance (proxy for intraspecific competition) and length of daylight were the predominant factors regulating the mosquito population dynamics; however, other drivers encompassing environmental and climatic variables also had a significant impact, although sometimes counterintuitive and not univocal. The analyses of the single-year datasets, and the comparison with the results obtained from the overall model (all data available from 2010 to 2018), highlighted remarkable differences in coefficients magnitude, sign and significance. These outcomes indicate that different combinations of factors might have distinctive, and sometimes divergent, effects on mosquito population dynamics.
CONCLUSIONS: A more realistic acquaintance of the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms of mosquito population fluctuations in relation to continuous changes in environmental and climatic conditions is paramount to properly reinforce VBDs risk-based surveillance activities, to plan targeted density control measures and to implement effective early detection programmes.

Keywords:  Culex pipiens; Italy; Mosquitoes; Population dynamics; West Nile

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-04143-w
BMC Infect Dis. 2020 May 24. 20(1): 371

Zika virus in southeastern Senegal: survival of the vectors and the virus during the dry season.

Babacar Diouf, Alioune Gaye, Cheikh Tidiane Diagne, Mawlouth Diallo, Diawo Diallo.

  BACKGROUND: Zika virus (ZIKV, genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae) is transmitted mainly by Aedes mosquitoes. This virus has become an emerging concern of global public health with recent epidemics associated to neurological complications in the pacific and America. ZIKV is the most frequently amplified arbovirus in southeastern Senegal. However, this virus and its adult vectors are undetectable during the dry season. The aim of this study was to investigate how ZIKV and its vectors are maintained locally during the dry season.METHODS: Soil, sand, and detritus contained in 1339 potential breeding sites (tree holes, rock holes, fruit husks, discarded containers, used tires) were collected in forest, savannah, barren and village land covers and flooded for eggs hatching. The emerging larvae were reared to adult, identified, and blood fed for F1 production. The F0 and F1 adults were identified and tested for ZIKV by Reverse Transcriptase-Real time Polymerase Chain Reaction.
RESULTS: A total of 1016 specimens, including 13 Aedes species, emerged in samples collected in the land covers and breeding sites investigated. Ae. aegypti was the dominant species representing 56.6% of this fauna with a high plasticity. Ae. furcifer and Ae. luteocephalus were found in forest tree holes, Ae. taylori in forest and village tree holes, Ae. vittatus in rock holes. ZIKV was detected from 4 out of the 82 mosquito pools tested. Positive pools included Ae. bromeliae (2 pools), Ae. unilineatus (1 pool), and Ae. vittatus (1 pool), indicating that the virus is maintained in these Aedes eggs during the dry season.
CONCLUSION: Our investigation identified breeding sites types and land cover classes where several ZIKV vectors are maintained, and their maintenance rates during the dry season in southeastern Senegal. The maintenance of the virus in these vectors in nature could explain its early amplification at the start of the rainy season in this area.

Keywords:  Aedes; Eggs; Local maintenance; Southeastern Senegal; Vertical transmission; Zika virus

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-020-05093-5
Microb Ecol. 2020 May 27.

Impact of Gut Bacteria on the Infection and Transmission of Pathogenic Arboviruses by Biting Midges and Mosquitoes.

Tim W R Möhlmann, Chantal B F Vogels, Giel P Göertz, Gorben P Pijlman, Cajo J F Ter Braak, Dennis E Te Beest, Marc Hendriks, Els H Nijhuis, Sven Warris, Barbara S Drolet, Leo van Overbeek, Constantianus J M Koenraadt.

  Tripartite interactions among insect vectors, midgut bacteria, and viruses may determine the ability of insects to transmit pathogenic arboviruses. Here, we investigated the impact of gut bacteria on the susceptibility of Culicoides nubeculosus and Culicoides sonorensis biting midges for Schmallenberg virus, and of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes for Zika and chikungunya viruses. Gut bacteria were manipulated by treating the adult insects with antibiotics. The gut bacterial communities were investigated using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA, and susceptibility to arbovirus infection was tested by feeding insects with an infectious blood meal. Antibiotic treatment led to changes in gut bacteria for all insects. Interestingly, the gut bacterial composition of untreated Ae. aegypti and C. nubeculosus showed Asaia as the dominant genus, which was drastically reduced after antibiotic treatment. Furthermore, antibiotic treatment resulted in relatively more Delftia bacteria in both biting midge species, but not in mosquitoes. Antibiotic treatment and subsequent changes in gut bacterial communities were associated with a significant, 1.8-fold increased infection rate of C. nubeculosus with Schmallenberg virus, but not for C. sonorensis. We did not find any changes in infection rates for Ae. aegypti mosquitoes with Zika or chikungunya virus. We conclude that resident gut bacteria may dampen arbovirus transmission in biting midges, but not so in mosquitoes. Use of antimicrobial compounds at livestock farms might therefore have an unexpected contradictory effect on the health of animals, by increasing the transmission of viral pathogens by biting midges.

Keywords:  Arbovirus; Biting midge; Microbiome; Mosquito; Transmission

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-020-01517-6
PLoS One. 2020 ;15(5): e0233618

A simplified method for blood feeding, oral infection, and saliva collection of the dengue vector mosquitoes.

Chalida Sri-In, Shih-Che Weng, Shin-Hong Shiao, Wu-Chun Tu.

A simple device using folded Parafilm-M as an artificial blood feeder was designed for studying two important dengue vector mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The efficiency of the artificial blood feeder was investigated by comparing the numbers of engorged mosquitoes that fed on the artificial blood feeder versus mice as a live blood source. Significantly more engorged females Aedes aegypti fed on the artificial blood feeder than on mice. In addition, the artificial feeder could serve as a useful apparatus for oral infection via artificial blood meals, and for saliva collection in mosquitoes. Our method enabled us to collect saliva from multiple mosquitoes at once, providing sufficient infected saliva for determination of the virus titer by plaque assay analysis. Our artificial feeder has the advantage that it is simple, inexpensive, and efficient.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233618
Insects. 2020 May 24. pii: E324. [Epub ahead of print]11(5):

Phylogeny of Anopheles (Kerteszia) (Diptera: Culicidae) Using Mitochondrial Genes.

Karin Kirchgatter, Lilian de Oliveira Guimarães, Henrry Hugo Yañez Trujillano, Fernando Rafael Arias, Abraham Germán Cáceres, Ana Maria Ribeiro de Castro Duarte, Rosely Dos Santos Malafronte, Rosa Maria Tubaki, Maria Anice Mureb Sallum.

  Identification of mosquito species is necessary for determining the entomological components of malaria transmission, but it can be difficult in morphologically similar species. DNA sequences are largely used as an additional tool for species recognition, including those that belong to species complexes. Kerteszia mosquitoes are vectors of human and simian malaria in the Neotropical Region, but there are few DNA sequences of Kerteszia species in public databases. In order to provide relevant information about diversity and improve knowledge in taxonomy of Kerteszia species in Peru, we sequenced part of the mitochondrial genome, including the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) barcode region. Phylogenetic analyses structured all species of mosquitoes collected in Peru into a single clade, separate from the Brazilian species. The Peruvian clade was composed of two lineages, encompassing sequences from Anopheles Kerteszia boliviensis and Anopheles Kerteszia pholidotus. An. pholidotus sequences were recorded for the first time in Peru, whereas An. boliviensis sequences were for the first time published in the GenBank database. Sequences generated from specimens morphologically identified as Anopheles Kerteszia cruzii clustered into three separate clades according to the collection localities of Serra do Mar, Serra da Mantiqueira, and Serra da Cantareira, confirming An. cruzii as a species complex, composed of at least three putative species.

Keywords:  Kerteszia; Peru; barcoding; malaria; mosquitoes; population genetics

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11050324
PLoS Pathog. 2020 May 26. 16(5): e1008181

Experimental determination of the force of malaria infection reveals a non-linear relationship to mosquito sporozoite loads.

Maya Aleshnick, Vitaly V Ganusov, Gibran Nasir, Gayane Yenokyan, Photini Sinnis.

Plasmodium sporozoites are the infective stage of the malaria parasite. Though this is a bottleneck for the parasite, the quantitative dynamics of transmission, from mosquito inoculation of sporozoites to patent blood-stage infection in the mammalian host, are poorly understood. Here we utilize a rodent model to determine the probability of malaria infection after infectious mosquito bite, and consider the impact of mosquito parasite load, blood-meal acquisition, probe-time, and probe location, on infection probability. We found that infection likelihood correlates with mosquito sporozoite load and, to a lesser degree, the duration of probing, and is not dependent upon the mosquito's ability to find blood. The relationship between sporozoite load and infection probability is non-linear and can be described by a set of models that include a threshold, with mosquitoes harboring over 10,000 salivary gland sporozoites being significantly more likely to initiate a malaria infection. Overall, our data suggest that the small subset of highly infected mosquitoes may contribute disproportionally to malaria transmission in the field and that quantifying mosquito sporozoite loads could aid in predicting the force of infection in different transmission settings.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1008181
J Med Entomol. 2020 May 27. pii: tjaa093. [Epub ahead of print]

Inter-Population Similarities and Differences in Predation Efficiency of a Mosquito Natural Enemy.

Ross N Cuthbert, Tatenda Dalu, Ryan J Wasserman, Olaf L F Weyl, P William Froneman, Amanda Callaghan, Jaimie T A Dick.

  Predation is a critical factor that mediates population stability, community structure, and ecosystem function. Predatory natural enemies can contribute to the regulation of disease vector groups such as mosquitoes, particularly where they naturally co-occur across landscapes. However, we must understand inter-population variation in predatory efficiency if we are to enhance vector control. The present study thus employs a functional response (FR; resource use under different densities) approach to quantify and compare predatory interaction strengths among six populations of a predatory temporary pond specialist copepod, Lovenula raynerae, from the Eastern Cape of South Africa preying on second instar Culex pipiens complex mosquito larvae. All individuals from the sampled populations were predatory and drove significant mortality through per capita predation rates of 0.75-1.10 mosquitoes/h at maximum densities over a 5-h feeding time. Individuals from all copepod populations exhibited Type II FRs with no significant differences in attack rates. On the other hand, there were significant differences in handling times, and therefore also maximum feeding rates (maximum experimental prey density: 32), suggesting possible genetic differences among populations that influenced predation. Owing to a widespread distribution in arid landscapes, we propose that predatory calanoid copepods such as L. raynerae play a key regulatory role at the landscape scale in the control of disease vector mosquito populations. We propose that these ecosystems and their specialist biota should thus be conserved and enhanced (e.g., via selective breeding) owing to the ecosystem services they provide in the context of public health.

Keywords:   Culex pipiens ; Lovenula raynerae ; biological control; calanoid copepod; functional response

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjaa093
Sci Total Environ. 2020 May 13. pii: S0048-9697(20)32882-5. [Epub ahead of print]734 139365

Synchrony of globally invasive Aedes spp. immature mosquitoes along an urban altitudinal gradient in their native range.

Luis Fernando Chaves, Mariel D Friberg, Kazuhiko Moji.

  Mosquito-borne infections often have concerted peaks, or are synchronous, across landscapes. This phenomenon might be driven by vector responses to similar environmental conditions that synchronize their abundance. While adult mosquito populations can be synchronous over spatial scales ranging from a few meters to a few kilometers, little to nothing is known about immature mosquito synchrony, including its relationship with mosquito colonization and persistence in larval habitats. Here, we present results from a 2-yearlong synchrony study in co-occurring populations of Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse), Aedes (Stegomyia) flavopictus Yamada and Aedes (Finlaya) japonicus japonicus (Theobald), three invasive mosquito species, along an urban altitudinal gradient in Japan. We found that Ae. albopictus was asynchronous while Ae. flavopictus and Ae. j. japonicus had synchrony that, respectively, tracked geographic and altitudinal patterns of temperature correlation. Spatially, Ae. albopictus was more persistent at hotter locations near urban land use, while Ae. j. japonicus and Ae. flavopictus increasingly persisted farther away from urban land. Temporally, Ae. albopicus and Ae. flavopictus decreased the proportion of colonized habitats following variable rainfall, while Ae. j. japonicus increased with vegetation growth and leptokurtic temperatures. Our results support the hypothesis that immature mosquito synchrony is autonomous from dispersal and driven by common environmental conditions.

Keywords:  Land use; Moran effect; NDVI; Schmalhausen's law; Time series analysis

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139365
Pathogens. 2020 May 22. pii: E404. [Epub ahead of print]9(5):

A Review: Wolbachia-Based Population Replacement for Mosquito Control Shares Common Points with Genetically Modified Control Approaches.

Pei-Shi Yen, Anna-Bella Failloux.

  The growing expansion of mosquito vectors has made mosquito-borne arboviral diseases a global threat to public health, and the lack of licensed vaccines and treatments highlight the urgent need for efficient mosquito vector control. Compared to genetically modified control strategies, the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia, endowing a pathogen-blocking phenotype, is considered an environmentally friendly strategy to replace the target population for controlling arboviral diseases. However, the incomplete knowledge regarding the pathogen-blocking mechanism weakens the reliability of a Wolbachia-based population replacement strategy. Wolbachia infections are also vulnerable to environmental factors, temperature, and host diet, affecting their densities in mosquitoes and thus the virus-blocking phenotype. Here, we review the properties of the Wolbachia strategy as an approach to control mosquito populations in comparison with genetically modified control methods. Both strategies tend to limit arbovirus infections but increase the risk of selecting arbovirus escape mutants, rendering these strategies less reliable.

Keywords:  Wolbachia; arbovirus; environmental factors; mosquito control; replacement strategy; viral adaptation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9050404
Expert Rev Vaccines. 2020 May 25.

Dengue Vaccine: A Key for Prevention.

Usa Thisyakorn, Terapong Tantawichien.

  INTRODUCTION: Dengue infection is the most important mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. Most mosquito control methods currently available for public health use are not very efficacious. Dengue vaccine is required to control dengue diseases in the future through the use of a safe and effective vaccine.AREAS COVERED: This review covered dengue vaccine development and candidate dengue vaccines in the clinical trial pipeline including licensed dengue vaccine.
EXPERT OPINION: Dengue has become an intractable global health problem. Vector control has achieved only limited success in reducing the transmission of dengue. A dengue vaccine is needed as part of an integrated approach to dengue prevention and control since dengue poses a heavy economic cost to the health system and society. Because dengue is a unique and complex disease developing a dengue vaccine has proven equally complex. However, there is an advanced pipeline of vaccine research currently in clinical and preclinical studies including live-attenuated vaccine candidates as well as virus-vectored and virus-like particle-based vaccines.

Keywords:  Global threat of dengue; dengue vaccine development; dengue vaccines in the clinical trial pipeline; licensed dengue vaccine

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/14760584.2020.1775076
PLoS Genet. 2020 May 28. 16(5): e1008794

Exome-wide association study reveals largely distinct gene sets underlying specific resistance to dengue virus types 1 and 3 in Aedes aegypti.

Laura B Dickson, Sarah H Merkling, Mathieu Gautier, Amine Ghozlane, Davy Jiolle, Christophe Paupy, Diego Ayala, Isabelle Moltini-Conclois, Albin Fontaine, Louis Lambrechts.

Although specific interactions between host and pathogen genotypes have been well documented in invertebrates, the identification of host genes involved in discriminating pathogen genotypes remains a challenge. In the mosquito Aedes aegypti, the main dengue virus (DENV) vector worldwide, statistical associations between host genetic markers and DENV types or strains were previously detected, but the host genes underlying this genetic specificity have not been identified. In particular, it is unknown whether DENV type- or strain-specific resistance relies on allelic variants of the same genes or on distinct gene sets. Here, we investigated the genetic architecture of DENV resistance in a population of Ae. aegypti from Bakoumba, Gabon, which displays a stronger resistance phenotype to DENV type 1 (DENV-1) than to DENV type 3 (DENV-3) infection. Following experimental exposure to either DENV-1 or DENV-3, we sequenced the exomes of large phenotypic pools of mosquitoes that are either resistant or susceptible to each DENV type. Using variation in single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) frequencies among the pools, we computed empirical p values based on average gene scores adjusted for the differences in SNP counts, to identify genes associated with infection in a DENV type-specific manner. Among the top 5% most significant genes, 263 genes were significantly associated with resistance to both DENV-1 and DENV-3, 287 genes were only associated with DENV-1 resistance and 290 were only associated with DENV-3 resistance. The shared significant genes were enriched in genes with ATP binding activity and sulfur compound transmembrane transporter activity, whereas the genes uniquely associated with DENV-3 resistance were enriched in genes with zinc ion binding activity. Together, these results indicate that specific resistance to different DENV types relies on largely non-overlapping sets of genes in this Ae. aegypti population and pave the way for further mechanistic studies.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008794
Zhongguo Xue Xi Chong Bing Fang Zhi Za Zhi. 2019 Nov 29. 32(3): 294-297

[Effect of several human metabolic compounds for trapping Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus].

H Wu, J Q Dai, D S Chen, H Huang.

  OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the indoor effect of six human metabolic compounds for trapping adult Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus.METHODS: The effects of six human metabolic compounds alone (acetic acid, propionic acid, octanoic acid, lactic acid, 1-octene-3-alcohol and urea alone), liquid lactic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, octanoic acid, lactic acid or 1-octene-3-alcohol in combination with urea at an equal mass ratio, and lactic acid-urea combinations at various mass ratios, for trapping Cx. p. quinquefasciatus were examined using the trapping method, while the dechlorinated water served as a control.
RESULTS: The indoor mosquito-trapping efficacy of the six human metabolic compounds was all superior to the dechlorinated water. Acetic acid, propionic acid, octanoic acid, or 1-octene-3-alcohol combined with urea at a mass ratio of 1∶1 had a comparable mosquito-trapping efficacy with acetic acid, propionic acid, octanoic acid, or 1-octene-3-alcohol alone (all P values > 0.05). The lactic acidurea combination at a mass ratio of 1∶1 had a significantly higher mean cumulative trapping capacity [(35.60 ± 8.11) mosquitoes] than lactic acid [(20.80 ± 8.53) mosquitoes], urea [(17.00 ± 7.18) mosquitoes] or dechlorinated water alone (7.20 ± 2.68) (all P values < 0.05). In addition, the lactic acid-urea combinations at mass ratios of 1∶1, 1∶2, 1∶3, 1∶4 or 1∶5 all had significantly greater mosquito-trapping efficacies than lactic acid, urea or dechlorinated water alone (all P values < 0.05), and the optimal combination (lactic acid-urea at a 1∶4 mass ratio) had a mean cumulative trapping capacity of (56.20 ± 9.88) mosquitoes, which was significantly superior to lactic acid [(17.00 ± 3.94) mosquitoes], urea [(16.40 ± 3.78) mosquitoes] or dechlorinated water alone [(7.40 ± 3.44) mosquitoes] (all P values < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: The lactic acid-urea combination remarkably increases the indoor trapping capability of Cx. p. quinquefasciatus, and this combination has a weak smell, which is suitable to be used at home and office environments.

Keywords:  1-octene-3-alcohol; Acetic acid; Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus; Lactic acid; Metabolic compound; Octanoic acid; Propionic acid; Trapping method; Urea

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.16250/j.32.1374.2019153
Pest Manag Sci. 2020 May 30.

Performance of an aerially applied liquid Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis formulation (strain AM65-52) against mosquitoes in mixed saltmarsh-mangrove systems and fine-scale mapping of mangrove canopy cover using affordable drone-based imagery.

Brian J Johnson, Russell Manby, Gregor J Devine.

  BACKGROUND: In the Australian southeast, the saltmarsh mosquito Aedes vigilax (Skuse) is the focus of area-wide larviciding campaigns employing the biological agent Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti). Although generally effective, frequent inundating tides and considerable mangrove cover can make control challenging. Here, we describe the efficacy and persistence of an aqueous Bti suspension (potency: 1200 International Toxic Units; strain AM65-52) within a mixed saltmarsh-mangrove system and the use of affordable unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to identify and map problematic levels of mangrove canopy cover.RESULTS: High mangrove canopy density (>40% cover) reduced product deposition by 75.2% (0.01 ± 0.002 μL/cm2 vs. 0.05 ± 0.006 μL/cm2 ), larval mortality by 27.7% (60.7 ± 4.1% vs. 84.0 ± 2.4%), and ground level Bti concentrations by 32.03% (1144 ± 462.6 vs. 1683 ± 447.8 spores ml-1 ) relative to open saltmarsh. Persistence of product post-application was found to be low (80.6% loss at 6 h) resulting in negligible additional losses to tidal inundation 24 h post-application. UAS surveys accurately identified areas of high mangrove cover using both standard and multispectral imagery, although derived index values for this vegetation class were only moderately correlated with ground measurements (R2 = 0.17-0.38) at their most informative scales.
CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the complex operational challenges that affect coastal mosquito control in heterogeneous environments. The problem is exacerbated by continued mangrove transgression into saltmarsh habitat in the region. Emerging UAS technology can help operators optimize treatments by accurately identifying and mapping challenging canopy cover using both standard and multispectral imaging.

Keywords:  Aedes; Bacillus; larval control; mangrove; saltmarsh; unmanned aerial systems

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5933
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2020 May 27.

Botanical insecticide-based nanosystems for the control of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti larvae.

Jonatas Lobato Duarte, Anna Eliza Maciel de Faria Motta Oliveira, Mara Cristina Pinto, Marlus Chorilli.

  Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti is a cosmopolitan species that transmits arbovirus of medical importance as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. The main strategy employed for the control of this mosquito is the use of larvicidal agents. However, the overuse of synthetic chemical larvicides has led to an increase in resistant insects, making management difficult. Therefore, the use of botanical insecticide-based nanosystems as an alternative to the use of synthetic agents for the control of Ae. aegypti has gained more considerable attention in the last years, mainly due to the advantages of nanostructured delivery systems, such as (a) controlled release; (b) greater surface area; (c) improvement of biological activity; (d) protection of natural bioactive agents from the environment and thus achieving stability; and (e) lipophilic drugs are easier dispersed even in aqueous vehicles. This review summarizes the current knowledge about botanical insecticide-based nanosystems as larvicidal against Ae. aegypti larvae. The majority of papers used metallic nanoparticles (NPs) as larvicidal agents, mainly silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), showing potential for their use as an alternative, followed by nanoemulsions containing vegetable oils, most essential oils, nanosystems that allow the dispersion of this high hydrophobic product in water, the environment of larval development. The final section describes scientific findings about the mode of action of these NPs, showing the gap about this subject in literature.

Keywords:  Arboviruses; Metallic nanoparticles; Nanoemulsions; Nanotechnology; Natural products

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09278-y