Larval crowding enhances dengue virus loads in Aedes aegypti, a relationship that might increase transmission in urban environments.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Climate change and urbanization will alter the global distribution of disease vectors, changing the disease burden in yet unpredictable ways. Aedes aegypti is a mosquito responsible for transmitting dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses that breeds in containers associated with urban environments. We sought to understand how ambient temperature and larval densities in the immature aquatic phases determine adult life history traits and dengue virus loads post-infection. We predicted that larval crowding and high temperatures would both lead to smaller mosquitoes that might struggle to invest in an immune response and, hence, would exhibit high viral loads.

Methods

We first examined larval densities from urban and rural areas via a meta-analysis. We th

SUBMITTER: Dutra HLC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11414913 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature