Abstract
Autochthonous transmissions of mosquito-borne diseases were described in close proximity to Slovenia where the knowledge of mosquito species and the viruses they transmit remains very scarce. Therefore we aimed to assess the burden mosquitoes bring to the local community and to test mosquitoes for the presence of the selected zoonotic arboviruses, i. e. Dengue (DENV), West Nile (WNV) and Chikungunya (CHIKV). A pilot mosquito monitoring was conducted in 2012 within two municipalities based on adult mosquito trapping. Altogether 2007 adult mosquitoes were caught. Females of Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens represented the majority of the total mosquito catch. In sites with more households and nearby greenery, catches of Ae. albopictus were more abundant. Highest numbers of Cx. pipiens females were caught close to a nature reserve, where many bird species stop during their migrations. Trapping results are consistent with both species’ feeding behaviour. Female mosquitoes were grouped into 58 pools according to species, location and date of catch. Real time RT-PCRs for WNV, DENV and CHIKV were performed, but no arboviral genomes were detected in any of the tested mosquito pools. However, amplicons were obtained in three pools when using generic RT-PCR markers for flaviviruses. The viruses detected were propagated and isolated in mosquito cell line C3/36 and identified with sequencing as mosquito-only flaviviruses (MOFs). The important contributions of this study are a successful first isolation of MOFs and confirmation of the presence of the invasive mosquito Ae. albopictus in Slovenia.
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Abbreviations
- IMS:
-
Invasive mosquito species
- MOFs:
-
Mosquito-only flaviviruses
- DENV:
-
Dengue virus
- WNV:
-
West Nile virus
- CHIKV:
-
Chikungunya virus
- UTM :
-
Universal transport medium
- CPE:
-
Cytopathic effect
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Institute of Public Health Koper, Municipality of Nova Gorica and Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. (100-12-1988)). We are grateful to dr. Heidi Christine Hauffe and dr. Matthew Schwarzkopf for English corrections. We also wish to thank Tjaša Zagoršek, Eva Praprotnik and Jana Zoratti for their help with field and laboratory work.
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Kalan, K., Avšič-Županc, T., Rus, K.R. et al. Mosquito-only flaviviruses, isolated from Aedes albopictus in Slovenia: results of a pilot mosquito monitoring program. Biologia 73, 1277–1282 (2018). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-018-0135-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-018-0135-1