1Department of Environmental Sciences, Center for Vector Biology and Zoonotic Diseases, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Connecticut.
2The Arbovirus Laboratories, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Slingerlands, New York.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2020 Dec 21;104(3):1123-1130. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0874.
The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is an important vector of a number of arboviruses, including Zika (ZIKV), dengue (DENV), and chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses, and has recently expanded its range in the eastern United States to southern New England and New York. Given the recent establishment and proliferation of Ae. albopictus in this region and the increasing amount of international travel between the United States and endemic countries, there is a need to elucidate the public health risk posed by this mosquito species in the Northeast. Accordingly, we evaluated the competence of four Ae. albopictus populations from Connecticut and New York, for two strains each of ZIKV, DENV serotype 2 (DENV-2), and CHIKV, currently circulating in the Americas, to evaluate the local transmission risk by this vector. We found that local Ae. albopictus populations are susceptible to infection by all three viruses but are most capable of transmitting CHIKV. Variation in competence was observed for ZIKV and CHIKV, driven by the virus strains and mosquito population, whereas competence was more homogeneous for the DENV-2 strains under evaluation. These results suggest that under optimal circumstances, Ae. albopictus could support localized transmission of these viruses and emphasize the importance of maintaining mosquito surveillance and control programs to suppress Ae. albopictus populations and limit further range expansion of this species.
亚洲虎蚊（Aedes albopictus）是多种虫媒病毒的重要传播媒介，包括寨卡病毒（ZIKV）、登革热病毒（DENV）和基孔肯雅热病毒（CHIKV），最近已将其分布范围扩展到美国东部，包括新英格兰南部和纽约。鉴于该蚊种最近在该地区的建立和扩散，以及美国与虫媒病毒流行国家之间的国际旅行日益增加，需要阐明该蚊种在东北地区构成的公共卫生风险。因此，我们评估了来自康涅狄格州和纽约州的四个亚洲虎蚊种群对目前在美洲流行的两种寨卡病毒株、两种登革热病毒 2 型（DENV-2）株和基孔肯雅热病毒株的易感性，以评估该媒介的本地传播风险。我们发现，本地亚洲虎蚊种群易受三种病毒感染，但最能传播基孔肯雅热病毒。对寨卡病毒和基孔肯雅热病毒的易感性存在差异，这是由病毒株和蚊子种群驱动的，而评估的 DENV-2 株的易感性则更为一致。这些结果表明，在最佳条件下，亚洲虎蚊可能支持这些病毒的局部传播，并强调维持蚊子监测和控制计划的重要性，以抑制亚洲虎蚊种群并限制该物种的进一步分布范围扩展。
