Higher Venereal Infection and Transmission Rates with La Crosse Virus in Aedes triseriatus Engorged before Mating

Abstract

Infection of colonized female Aedes triseriatus by La Crosse (LAC) virus occurred more frequently when females were inseminated by infected males after the females engorged blood (49% of 39) than when mating took place before engorgement (4% of 554). Salivary transmission of LAC virus to mice also was more frequent in females venereally infected after engorgement on a normal mouse (35% of 34) than in females mated before engorgement (2% of 49). LAC virus was transovarially transmitted by 40% of 10 females mated by infected males, and in 64% of 279 progeny reared from eggs of second or later ovarian cycles.