Natural Transovarial Transmission of Dengue 4 Virus in Aedes Aegypti in Trinidad

Abstract

The isolation of dengue 4 virus from adult Aedes aegypti, reared from eggs collected in nature, is reported for the first time. From the locality where the isolate was made, 25 pools consisting of 1,848 Ae. aegypti reared from eggs were processed. In this study, 10 different localities were sampled and a total of 10,957 Ae. aegypti adults, collected as eggs or larvae in nature, were processed for virus isolation. From a total of 158 mosquito pools tested, one recovery of dengue 4 virus was made. The isolation of dengue 4 virus from this field-collected material gives further evidence that transovarial transmission of dengue viruses occurs in nature.