American researchers have succeeded in proving that SARS-CoV-2 is not transmitted by mosquitoes.
- Mosquitoes are refractory to SARS-CoV-2 and unlikely to contribute to viral maintenance and transmission.
- This is the first study to confirm that the virus cannot be transmitted by mosquitoes.
If some areas remain unclear on the origin of the coronavirus, American researchers have managed to clarify others. Scientists from the University of Kansas (USA) have managed to confirm that SARS-CoV-2 cannot be transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. “While the World Health Organization has definitively stated that mosquitoes cannot transmit the virus, our study is the first to provide conclusive data supporting the theory.”, advances Stephen Higgs, lead author of the study, whose results were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Mosquitoes refractory to SARS-CoV-2
For this study, the researchers analyzed the susceptibility of three widely distributed mosquito species: Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus. The susceptibility of these three species to Covid-19 was determined by intrathoracic inoculation with the disease. After 24 hours, no virus was detected in the 277 inoculated mosquitoes, suggesting a rapid loss of infectivity and a lack of replication after injection. The results suggest that mosquitoes are refractory to SARS-CoV-2 and unlikely to contribute to viral maintenance and transmission.
These conclusions confirm what the WHO has said. The Organization stated that “the coronavirus is a respiratory virus that spreads primarily through contact with an infected person, through respiratory droplets emitted when a person, for example, coughs or sneezes, or through droplets of saliva or nasal secretions . To date, there is no information or evidence to suggest that the coronavirus could be transmitted by mosquitoes..”
No ability to digest
The study confirms several claims by specialists who have said that Covid-19 is not transmitted by mosquitoes. “Mosquitoes that transmit pathogens have previously ingested them via an infected blood meal. But for the cycle to work, the virus must have the ability to resist digestion in the mosquito’s stomach, so that it can then infect its cells, reach its salivary glands and replicate there. It is through this saliva thus contaminated that it then transmits during a bite”, wrote theEID Méditerranée on its website.
Researchers have launched further studies to assess whether other pathogens can be transmitted from animals to humans. They study in particular Rift Valley fever, Japanese encephalitis and swine fever.
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