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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #172680
Title: PREVALENCE OF WEST NILE VIRUS IN TREE CANOPY-INHABITING CULEX PIPIENS AND ASSOCIATED MOSQUITOES

Author
item ANDERSON, JOHN - CONN.AGR.EXP.STATION
item ANDREADIS, THEODORE - CONN.AGR.EXP.STATION
item MAIN, ANDY - AMER UNIV IN CAIRO EGYPT
item Kline, Daniel - Dan

Submitted to: American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/25/2004
Publication Date: 5/1/2004
Citation: Anderson, J.F., Andreadis, T.G., Main, A.J., Kline, D.L. 2004. Prevalence of west nile virus in tree canopy-inhabiting culex pipiens and associated mosquitoes. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 71(1). pp. 112-119.

Interpretive Summary: A major emphasis of research by scientists in the Mosquito and Fly Research Unit at the Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL, is the development of surveillance technologies for mosquitoes which transmit diseases such as West Nile Virus (WNV). A cooperative study was conducted with scientists from The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, CT, to determine if trap type and placement were important factors for collection of mosquitoes infected with WNV. A comparison was made between three trap types (CDC, MMX and animal-baited Lard Can) placed in the tree canopy and similar traps placed near the ground. Both factors were important. More mosquitoes were collected in the MMX traps. Collections were larger in the canopy traps. More WNV was isolated from the mosquitoes collected in the canopy traps.

Technical Abstract: Culex pipiens was the dominant mosquito captured in a West Nile virus (WNV) focus in Stratford, Connecticut. More Cx. pipiens were captured in Centers for Disease Control miniature light traps baited with CO2, quail/hamster traps, and mosquito magnet experimental (MMX) traps placed in the tree canopy than in similar traps placed near the ground. Significantly more Cx. pipiens were captured in MMX traps placed in the canopy than in the other traps tested. Ninety-two percent and 85% of the 206 and 68 WNV isolations were from Cx. pipiens in 2002 and 2003, respectively; 5% and 12% were from Cx. salinarius. Eighty-five percent and 87% of the isolates were from mosquitoes captured in the canopy in each of the two years. The significantly larger numbers of WNV isolates from Cx. pipiens captured in the canopy are attributed to the significantly larger numbers of Cx. pipiens captured in the canopy in comparison to those captured in traps near the ground.