15 Outbreaks of mosquito-borne arboviral diseases including dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), yellow 16 fever virus (YFV) and chikungunya virus (CHIKV) have recently occurred in the Caribbean. The 17 geographical range of the principle vectors responsible for transmission, Aedes (Ae.) aegypti and Ae.18 albopictus is increasing and greater mosquito surveillance is needed in the Caribbean given international 19 tourism is so prominent. The island of Saint Lucia has seen outbreaks of DENV and CHIKV in the past 20 five years but vector surveillance has been limited with the last studies dating back to the late 1970s.
21Natural disasters have changed the landscape of Saint Lucia and the island has gone through significant 22 urbanisation. In this study, we conducted an entomological survey of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus 23 distribution across the island and analysed environmental parameters associated with the presence of 24 these species. Although we collected Ae. aegypti across a range of sites across the island, no Ae. 25 albopictus were collected despite traps being placed in diverse ecological settings. The number of Ae.
26aegypti collected was significantly associated with higher elevation and semi-urban settings yielded 27 female mosquito counts per trap-day that were 5-fold lower than urban settings. Screening for 28 arboviruses revealed a high prevalence of a novel insect-specific flavivirus closely related to cell fusing 29 agent virus (CFAV). We discuss the implications that natural disasters, water storage and lack of 30 mosquito surveillance have on arboviral outbreaks in Saint Lucia and implications for insect only 31 flaviviruses on surveillance and detection of pathogenic flaviviruses.32 33 34 35 36 37 38 4 . 57 Outbreaks of arboviral diseases including DENV 9 , YFV 7 , CHIKV 10 and ZIKV 11 have recently occurred in 58 the Caribbean. The possibility of additional recent arbovirus transmission in the Caribbean must be 59 considered given some infections result in nearly indistinguishable clinical symptoms. For example, 60 Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an alphavirus closely related to CHIKV and has resulted in sporadic outbreaks in 61 South America 12 . MAYV transmission is restricted to South and Central America where it is thought that 62 non-human primates act as reservoir hosts and Haemogogus mosquitoes (eg. H. janthinomys) found in 63 sylvatic jungle environments are responsible for human cases. Although human cases are strongly 64 correlated with exposure to forest environments, urban transmission of MAYV must be considered given 65 the association of cases and major cities infested with Ae. aegypti 13 . As the Caribbean is a destination 66 for many international tourists, surveillance is needed for individual Caribbean islands to determine the 67 risk of facilitating the spread of arboviral diseases. In particular, arboviruses transmitted by Ae. aegypti 68 are considered important given that prevention predominantly relies on mosquito vector control. Ae. 69 aegypti was first identified in the Ca...
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