Transmission Studies in Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) with Disseminated Rift Valley Fever Virus Infections1

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Abstract
Experiments were conducted to determine the ability of mosquitoes with disseminated Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus infections to transmit this virus by bite. Transmission rates for mosquitoes inoculated with RVF virus ranged from 0% (0/21) for Anopheles stephensi to 100% (92/92) for Culex pipiens. Aedes fowleri, Aedes taeniorhynchus, and Aedes triseriatus transmitted RVF virus about 50% of the time. Providing that the extrinsic incubation period for a mosquito species had been completed, the ability to transmit RVF virus was not affected by time postinoculation, number of ovarian cycles completed, or whether the mosquito probed, partially engorged, or fed to repletion. Similarly, when mosquitoes had multiple probes during a single blood meal (i.e., when they fed on several different animals), transmission rates were not affected by the order of feeding. Thus, the impact on vector capacity of multiple probings when a mosquito is unable to obtain a complete blood meal during a given feeding attempt may require further study. Also, the wide variation in transmission rates observed for mosquitoes with disseminated infections emphasizes the need to determine transmission rates, and not merely infection rates, when evaluating the vector competence of a species.

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