title: Experimental studies of susceptibility of Italian Aedes albopictus to Zika virus.
abstract: We report a study on vector competence of an Italian population of Aedes albopictus for Zika virus (ZIKV). Ae. albopictus was susceptible to ZIKV infection (infection rate: 10%), and the virus could disseminate and was secreted in the mosquito's saliva (dissemination rate: 29%; transmission rate: 29%) after an extrinsic incubation period of 11 days. The observed vector competence was lower than that of an Ae. aegypti colony tested in parallel.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Vector-borne Diseases and International Health, Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Luca
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Severini
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Toma
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boccolini
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Romi
authors.forename: Maria Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Remoli
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabbatucci
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.forename: Giulietta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Venturi
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rezza
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fortuna
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000821:virology*; D000825:Animal Structures / Q000821:virology*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D000072138:Mosquito Vectors / Q000821:virology*; D012463:Saliva / Q000821:virology*; D019562:Viral Load; D000071244:Zika Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D000071243:Zika Virus Infection / Q000821:virology*
keywords: Aedes aegypti; Aedes albopictus; Italian; Vector competence; experimental infection; zika virus