Aedes Triseriatus and La Crosse Virus: Lack of Infection in Eggs of the First Ovarian Cycle Following Oral Infection of Females *

Abstract

La Crosse (LAC) virus filial infection rates were 0% for 279 first ovarian cycle larvae, 43% for 380 second ovarian cycle larvae, and 58% for 363 third ovarian cycle larvae from orally infected mosquitoes representing 14 Wisconsin populations of Aedes triseriatus. LAC virus was not detected in 72 pools representing 2,250 first ovarian cycle larvae, while 35 pools and 16 pools each containing 30 second and third ovarian cycle larvae, respectively, were all positive for LAC virus. Similar results were obtained when the extrinsic incubation period temperature was 25°C, 27°C, or 29°C, or variable (17, 23, and 29°C for 8 hours each). LAC virus was not detected in 240 second ovarian cycle larvae in which the bloodmeal for the first ovarian cycle was non-infectious. Infection was not detected in 337 first ovarian cycle larvae from female mosquitoes that had been injected intrathoracically with LAC virus concomitantly with receiving a non-infectious bloodmeal. After an extrinsic incubation temperature of 25°C, LAC virus was discovered in dissected mosquito ovarian tissue 7 days post-feeding on an infectious bloodmeal. The epidemiological implications of these findings are discussed.