Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 11, Number 3—March 2005
Research

West Nile Virus Risk Assessment and the Bridge Vector Paradigm

A. Marm Kilpatrick*Comments to Author , Laura D. Kramer†, Scott R. Campbell‡, E. Oscar Alleyne§, Andrew P. Dobson¶, and Peter Daszak*
Author affiliations: *Consortium for Conservation Medicine, Wildlife Trust, Palisades, New York, USA; †New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York, USA; ‡Suffolk County Department of Health Services, Yaphank, New York, USA; §Rockland County Health Department, Pomona, New York, USA; ¶Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

Main Article

Table

Risk of mosquito species transmitting West Nile virus (WNV) to humans

Species Relative abundance WNV MIR* Vector competence† (reference) Fraction mammal‡ Risk % Risk
Aedes vexans 20.7 0.05 0.17 (16) 0.86 (126) 0.14 4.5
Coquillettidia perturbans 11.3 0.01 0.11 (17) 0.83 (191) 0.01 0.5
Culex pipiens + Cx. restuans 37.2 0.95 0.38 (16–18) 0.19 (373) 2.52 80.2
Cx. salinarius 0.6 0.85 0.36 (17) 0.67 (91) 0.12 3.9
Culiseta melanura 5.2 0.17 0.28 (19)§ 0.11 (141) 0.03 0.8
Ochlerotatus canadensis 14.9 0.00 0.55 (16,18)¶ 1.00 (107) 0.00 0.0
Oc. japonicus 0.5 0.33 0.93 (16) 0.95 (57) 0.16 5.0
Oc. sollicitans 2.0 0.07 0.16 (16) 1.00 (28) 0.02 0.7
Oc. trivittatus 7.6 0.05 0.55 (16,18)¶ 0.64 (115) 0.14 4.4

*MIR, minimum infection rate.
†The fraction of WNV-infected mosquitoes that will transmit virus in a subsequent bite.
‡Number of mosquito blood meals identified in parentheses (9,10, Kramer et al., unpub. data).
§Vector competence value taken from study on Cs. inornata. Risk increases to 0.09 and 3.0%, assuming a maximum vector competence of 1.0.
¶Genus average used. Risk with a vector competence of 1.0 would be 0 and 0% for Oc. canadensis and 0.25 and 8.0% for Oc. trivittatus.

Main Article

References
  1. Health Canada. West Nile virus monitor [surveillance data on the Internet]. [cited 2004 Dec 8]. Available from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/wnv-vwn/mon_e.html
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. West Nile virus [homepage on the Internet]. [cited 2004 Dec 6]. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Epidemic/enzootic West Nile virus in the United States: guidelines for surveillance, prevention, and control [monograph on the Internet]. 3rd revision. 2003 [cited 2004 Dec 8]. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/resources/wnv-guidelines-aug-2003.pdf
  4. Turell  MJ, Sardelis  MR, O'Guinn  ML, Dohm  DJ. Japanese encephalitis and West Nile viruses. In: Mackenzie J, Barrett A, Deubel V, editors. Current topics in microbiology and immunology. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 2002. p. 241–52.
  5. Bernard  KA, Maffei  JG, Jones  SA, Kauffman  EB, Ebel  GD, Dupuis  AP, West Nile virus infection in birds and mosquitoes, New York State, 2000. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001;7:679–85. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Duryea  RD. Aedes trivittatus in New Jersey. Proceedings of the New Jersey Mosquito Control Association. 1990. p. 73–9. Available from http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/sp12.htm
  7. Lombardi  RW, Imber  CF. The application of surveillance data to operational mosquito control. Proceedings of the New Jersey Mosquito Extermination Association. 1976;63:134–6.
  8. Crabtree  MB, Savage  HM, Miller  BR. Development of a species-diagnostic polymerase chain reaction assay for the identification of Culex vectors of St. Louis encephalitis virus based on interspecies sequence variation in ribosomal DNA spacers. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1995;53:105–9.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. Apperson  CS, Harrison  BA, Unnasch  TR, Hassan  HK, Irby  WS, Savage  HM, Host-feeding habits of Culex and other mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in the borough of Queens in New York City, with characters and techniques for identification of Culex mosquitoes. J Med Entomol. 2002;39:777–85. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  10. Apperson  CS, Hassan  HK, Harrison  BA, Savage  HM, Aspen  SE, Farajollahi  A, Host feeding patterns of established and potential mosquito vectors of West Nile virus in the eastern United States. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2004;4:71–82. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. Kauffman  E, Jones  S, Dupuis  A II, Ngo  K, Bernard  K, Kramer  LD. Virus detection protocols for West Nile virus in vertebrate and mosquito specimens. J Clin Microbiol. 2003;41:3661–7. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  12. Ngo  KA, Kramer  LD. Identification of mosquito bloodmeals using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with order-specific primers. J Med Entomol. 2003;40:215–22. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. Tempelis  CH. Host-feeding patterns of mosquitoes, with a review of advances in analysis of blood meals by serology. J Med Entomol. 1974;11:635–53.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  14. Spielman  A. Structure and seasonality of nearctic Culex pipiens populations. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2001;951:220–34. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. Fonseca  DM, Keyghobadi  N, Malcolm  CA, Mehmet  C, Schaffner  F, Mogi  M, Emerging vectors in the Culex pipiens complex. Science. 2004;303:1535–8. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  16. Turell  MJ, O'Guinn  ML, Dohm  DJ, Jones  JW. Vector competence of North American mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) for West Nile virus. J Med Entomol. 2001;38:130–4. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. Sardelis  MR, Turell  MJ, Dohm  DJ, O'Guinn  ML. Vector competence of selected North American Culex and Coquillettidia mosquitoes for West Nile virus. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001;7:1018–22. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  18. Turell  MJ, O'Guinn  M, Oliver  J. Potential for New York mosquitoes to transmit West Nile virus. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2000;62:413–4.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  19. Goddard  LB, Roth  AE, Reisen  WK, Scott  TW. Vector competence of California mosquitoes for West Nile virus. Emerg Infect Dis. 2002;8:1385–91.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  20. Pratt  HD, Moore  CG. Mosquitoes of public health importance and their control. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 1993.
  21. Rutledge  CR, Day  JF, Lord  CC, Stark  LM, Tabachnick  WJ. West Nile virus infection rates in Culex nigripalpus (Diptera: culicidae) do not reflect transmission rates in Florida. J Med Entomol. 2003;40:253–8. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  22. Tempelis  CH, Francy  DB, Hayes  RO, Lofy  MF. Variations in feeding patterns of 7 culcine mosquitoes on vertebrate hosts in Weld and Larimer Counties, Colorado. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1967;16:111–9.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  23. Tempelis  CH, Reeves  WC, Bellamy  RE, Lofy  MF. A 3-year study of feeding habits of Culex tarsalis in Kern County, California. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1965;14:170–7.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  24. Edman  JD, Taylor  DJ. Culex nigripalpus—seasonal shift in bird-mammal feeding ratio in a mosquito vector of human encephalitis. Science. 1968;161:67–8. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  25. Gingrich  JB, Casillas  L. Selected mosquito vectors of West Nile virus: comparison of their ecological dynamics in four woodland and marsh habitats in Delaware. J Am Mosq Control Assoc. 2004;20:138–45.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  26. Smith  AL, Dushoff  J, Mckenzie  FE. The risk of a mosquito-borne infection in a heterogeneous environment. PLoS Biol. 2004;2:e358. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

Main Article

Page created: April 25, 2012
Page updated: April 25, 2012
Page reviewed: April 25, 2012
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external