Transmission potential of Mayaro virus in Florida Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes

Abstract

Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an emerging mosquito-borne arbovirus present in Central and South America that causes arthralgia and febrile illness. Domestic mosquitoes Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) and Aedes albopictus are potential vectors of MAYV that may allow for transmission to humans in urban settings. The present paper assesses susceptibility to infection, disseminated infection and transmission potential in Florida Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus for MAYV. Oral infection was significantly higher in Ae. albopictus (85-100%) than in Ae. aegypti (67-82%). Viral dissemination to the haemocoel in Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes was rapid and co-occurred with infection of the salivary glands. Rates of disseminated infection were generally higher in Ae. aegypti (45-85%) than in Ae. albopictus (38-76%), although the difference was significant only at 9 days after feeding on MAYV-infected blood. Both mosquito species exhibited low rates of MAYV infection in saliva expectorates. Viral titres in the bodies of mosquitoes increased in line with the number of days post-blood feeding and were higher in Ae. aegypti than in Ae. albopictus. Although Florida mosquito vectors have the potential to transmit MAYV and thus to initiate an urban cycle after having fed on higher titres of MAYV-infected blood, lower viraemia in infected humans is likely to limit transmission potential.

Vector competence of Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes for Mayaro virus

“…aegypti was nanoinjected into naïve mosquitoes, with 69% of mosquitoes becoming infected. Other laboratory studies also confirmed the ability of this vector to transmit MAYV [14,16,41]. Therefore, our results confirm that this mosquito species has great potential for infection/ transmission rates of MAYV and, therefore, could play an important role in the transmission of this virus, if it becomes urbanized.…”

“…Smith and Francy [44], noted in their study that approximately half (5/11) of the mosquitoes infected with hamster viremic blood were able to transmit MAYV when their saliva was tested in capillary tubes. Wiggins et al [16] observed that Ae. albopictus mosquitoes exhibited low transmission rate of MAYV in saliva expectorates.…”

“…The authors classified this strain as being relatively refractory to MAYV infection but suggested that it may become more susceptible, serving as a secondary vector in an outbreak or as a bridge vector between MAYV transmission cycles. Wiggins et al [16] observed in an oral infection experiment that Ae. albopictus mosquitoes had a significantly higher infection rate than Ae.…”

“…albopictus mosquitoes exhibit laboratory vector competence for the infection and transmission of MAYV, and Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes infected with MAYV have been found in Cuiabá [14][15][16].…”

Modeling Chikungunya control strategies and Mayaro potential outbreak in the city of Rio de Janeiro

“…This study was expanded to include the Mayaro virus, which was reported as an emerging disease in South America [37,39,41]. Based on the assumption that Mayaro and Chikungunya viruses have a similar spreading mechanism [37], since both viruses have the same vector [31,36,42,43], we used parameters fitted from the Chikungunya outbreak from 2018 to estimate the R MAYV o from Mayaro. The results indicate that Mayaro has the potential to be an epidemic disease in Rio de Janeiro with R MAYV o values in a range of 1.18 and 3.51.…”