Infection of the mosquito Aedes aegypti with infectious west Nile virus-antibody complexes

Abstract

Aedes aegypti fed through chick skin membranes on West Nile virus-homologous antiserum mixtures shown by an anti-globulin neutralization test to be highly infectious complexes (in terms of plaque formation in tissue culture) failed to become infected. Control mosquitoes fed on West Nile virus—normal rabbit serum mixtures containing similar or smaller amounts of infectious virus were shown to become infected. Mosquitoes ingesting suspensions of West Nile virus previously incubated with Murray Valley encephalitis or Ntaya antiserum became infected at significantly lower rates (P = < 0.05) than controls ingesting West Nile virus—normal rabbit serum mixtures. West Nile virus—17D yellow fever or dengue—2 antiserum mixtures did not produce significantly reduced infection rates in Ae. aegypti when compared to controls.