High Rate of Non-Human Feeding by Aedes aegypti Reduces Zika Virus Transmission in South Texas.

ABSTRACT: Mosquito-borne viruses are emerging or re-emerging globally, afflicting millions of people around the world. Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, is the principal vector of dengue, Zika, and chikungunya viruses, and has well-established populations across tropical and subtropical urban areas of the Americas, including the southern United States. While intense arboviral epidemics have occurred in Mexico and further south in the Americas, local transmission in the United States has been minimal. Here, we study Ae. aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus host feeding patterns and vertebrate host communities in residential environments of South Texas to identify host-utilization relative to availability. Only 31% of Ae. aegypti blood meals were derived from humans,

SUBMITTER: Olson MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7232486 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature