Isolations of Cache Valley virus from Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in New Jersey and evaluation of its role as a regional arbovirus vector.
The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Skuse), is an invasive species and a major pest problem in urban and suburban locales in New Jersey. To assess its potential role as an arbovirus vector, we sampled Ae. albopictus from two New Jersey counties over a 3-yr period and estimated the prevalence of virus infection by Vero cell culture and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays. Three virus isolates were obtained from 34,567 field-collected Ae. albopictus, and all were identified as Cache Valley virus by molecular methods. Ae. albopictus (N = 3,138), collected in Mercer County from late July through early September 2011, also were retested for West Nile virus (WNV) by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and all were negative. These results corroborate previous findings showing that Ae. albopictus may occasionally acquire Cache Valley virus, a deer-associated arbovirus, in nature. In contrast, we did not detect WNV infection in Ae. albopictus despite concurrent WNV amplification in this region.
Philip M
PM
Armstrong
John F
JF
Anderson
Ary
A
Farajollahi
Sean P
SP
Healy
Isik
I
Unlu
Taryn N
TN
Crepeau
Randy
R
Gaugler
Dina M
DM
Fonseca
Theodore G
TG
Andreadis
D000330:Aedes / Q000821:virology*; D000818:Animals; D002042:Bunyamwera virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002044:Bunyaviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009515:New Jersey / Q000453:epidemiology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012621:Seasons; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014709:Vero Cells; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*