Blood-feeding behavior of dengue-2 virus-infected Aedes aegypti.

This study was designed to determine if infection of Aedes aegypti with dengue-2 virus affects the ability of the mosquito to efficiently locate and imbibe blood from an uninfected host. Previous studies suggest that some parasites manipulate their arthropod host to increase the probability of transmission by interfering with blood-feeding efficiency. We found no evidence that dengue-2 virus infection by intrathoracic inoculation impaired the blood-feeding efficiency of Ae. aegypti. We speculate that natural selection has not favored the evolution of dengue viruses that increase vector probing time because uninfected Ae. aegypti take multiple blood meals during each gonotrophic cycle and further increases in vector probing would not significantly increase virus fitness.