Female tiger mosquitoes transmit the Zika virus to their offspring, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. To eradicate the spread of the virus, it would therefore be necessary to kill the eggs and larvae of Aedes aegypti.
Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in the United States have shown that female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can transmit the Zika virus to their eggs and offspring.
To determine whether female mosquitoes infected with the Zika virus transmit the virus to their offspring, the researchers bred contaminated tiger mosquitoes in the laboratory. The mosquitoes were fed and within the next week they were laying eggs.
The researchers collected and incubated the eggs and larvae until adult mosquitoes emerged.
Vertical transmission of Zika virus exists in tiger mosquitoes
Scientists have identified Zika virus in one of the 290 mosquitoes tested.
“This ratio may seem low, but given the number of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that are found in tropical urban areas, it is likely that there is a sufficient proportion to allow the virus to persist even if a large proportion of them have been killed,” says Dr. Robert Tesh of the Texas Medical School in Galveston, lead author of the study. “This makes control more difficult because insecticides only affect adult mosquitoes and often spare eggs and mosquitoes. larvae”.
The researchers will continue their research to determine if this vertical transmission of the virus also occurs in nature.
The Zika virus has become a public health problem. Responsible for microcephaly in newborns whose mothers were infected during the pregnancyit would also be dangerous for adult brains.
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