Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 102, Issue 25, Pages 8871-8874Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0503835102
Keywords
Culex; mosquito vector
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Funding
- NIAID NIH HHS [AI47246, R01 AI047246] Funding Source: Medline
- ODCDC CDC HHS [U50/CCU620539, T01/CCT622892] Funding Source: Medline
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West Nile virus (WNV) is now the predominant circulating arthropod-borne virus in the United States with > 15,000 human cases and > 600 fatalities since 1999. Conventionally, mosquitoes become infected when feeding on viremic birds and subsequently transmit the virus to susceptible hosts. Here, we demonstrate nonviremic transmission of WNV between cofeeding mosquitoes. Donor, Culex pipiens quinguefasciatus mosquitoes infected with WNV were fed simultaneously with uninfected recipient mosquitoes on naive mice. At all times, donor and recipient mosquitoes were housed in separate sealed containers, precluding the possibility of mixing. Recipients became infected in all five trials, with infection rates as high as 5.8% and no detectable viremia in the hosts. Remarkably, a 2.3% infection rate was observed when 87 uninfected mosquitoes fed adjacent to a single infected mosquito. This phenomenon could potentially enhance virus survival, transmission, and dispersion and obviate the requirement for viremia. All vertebrates, including immune and insusceptible animals, might therefore facilitate mosquito infection. Our findings question the status of dead-end hosts in the WNV transmission cycle and may partly explain the success with which WNV established and rapidly dispersed throughout North America.
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