Potential mosquito vectors of arboviruses in Portugal: species, distribution, abundance and West Nile infection
- 31 August 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- Vol. 102 (8), 823-832
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trstmh.2008.03.011
Abstract
Circulation of West Nile virus in Portugal was demonstrated by serological surveys, and the virus was isolated in 1969 from Anopheles maculipennis s.l. A survey of the whole country was carried out (2001–2004) to assess the abundance of mosquito species and to screen them for arbovirus infection. A total of 770 collections yielded 32 460 mosquitoes of 15 species. The regions with the highest abundance of mosquitoes were the coastal and estuarine districts of Santarém, Setúbal and Faro. Culex pipiens s.l., An. maculipennis s.l., Cx. theileri and Ochlerotatus caspius were the most abundant and widespread, accounting for 92% of mosquitoes caught. Anopheles maculipennis s.l. and Cx. pipiens s.l. were present all over the country. Culex theileri and. Oc. caspius were more abundant in the southern and coastal areas, respectively. A total of 2355 mosquito pools were screened by RT-PCR for flaviviruses, of which 987 pools were also screened for bunyaviruses. Culex pipiens s.l. and Cx. univittatus collected in 2004 in the southern district of Faro were found to be infected with West Nile virus. The density and proximity of these mosquitoes to the human populations may constitute a public health threat in the case of involvement in arbovirus transmission cycles.Keywords
This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit:
- Chikungunya: A risk for Mediterranean countries?Acta Tropica, 2008
- Two Distinct Introductions of the West Nile Virus in Portugal Disclosed by Phylogenetic Analysis of Genomic SequencesVector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 2007
- Spread of The Tiger: Global Risk of Invasion by The MosquitoAedes albopictusVector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 2007
- First record and establishment of the mosquito Aedes albopictus in SpainMedical and Veterinary Entomology, 2006
- West Nile Virus in Southern Portugal, 2004Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 2005
- Emerging Vectors in the Culex pipiens ComplexScience, 2004
- Serological evidence of West Nile virus, Usutu virus and Sindbis virus infection of birds in the UKJournal of General Virology, 2003
- Comparison of Flavivirus Universal Primer Pairs and Development of a Rapid, Highly Sensitive Heminested Reverse Transcription-PCR Assay for Detection of Flaviviruses Targeted to a Conserved Region of the NS5 Gene SequencesJournal of Clinical Microbiology, 2001
- Isolation of West Nile Virus from Mosquitoes, Crows, and a Cooper's Hawk in ConnecticutScience, 1999
- Morphologic and Molecular Characterization of NewCyclosporaSpecies from Ethiopian Monkeys:C. cercopithecisp.n.,C. colobisp.n., andC. papionissp.n.Emerging Infectious Diseases, 1999