Microbiota composition of Culex perexiguus mosquitoes during the West Nile virus outbreak in southern Spain.

ABSTRACT: West Nile virus (WNV) is a flavivirus naturally circulating between mosquito vectors and birds, occasionally infecting horses and humans and causing epidemiologically relevant outbreaks. In Spain, the first big WNV outbreak was recorded in 2020, resulting in 77 people infected and 8 fatalities, most of them in southern Spain. Culex perexiguus was identified as the primary vector of WNV maintaining its enzootic circulation of the virus. Growing evidence highlights the role of mosquito microbiota as a key component determining the vectorial capacity of mosquitoes, largely contributing to disease epidemiology. Here, we develop, to our knowledge, the first identification of the microbiota composition of this mosquito vector under natural conditions and test for the potential relationship betwe

SUBMITTER: Garrigos M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11573153 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature