More mosquito species than thought may transmit Zika
ATHENS, Georgia: Zika virus could be transmitted by more mosquito species than those currently known, according to a new predictive model created by ecologists at the University of Georgia and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
Their findings, published in the journal eLife, offer a list of 26 additional potential candidate species that the authors suggest should be the first priority for further research.
“The biggest take home message is that these are the species that we need to prioritise,” said lead author Michelle V. Evans, a UGA doctoral student in ecology and conservation. “Especially as we’re in the slower part of the mosquito season, now is the time to catch up so we’re prepared for the summer.”
The new model could streamline the initial step of pinpointing Zika vectors.
“What we’ve done is to draw up a list of potential vector candidates based on the associations with viruses that they’ve had in the past as well as other traits that are specific to that species,” said paper co-author Courtney C. Murdock, an assistant professor in the UGA School of Veterinary Medicine and Odum School of Ecology. “That allows us to have a predictive framework to effectively get a list of candidate species without having to search blindly.”
Data used in the model consisted of information about the traits of flaviviruses—the family that includes Zika, yellow fever and dengue—and all the mosquito species that have ever been associated with them.
Analysing known mosquitovirus pairs, the researchers found that certain traits were strong predictors of whether a linkage would form.
“Ecologists have long known that everything is connected to everything else, and are pretty good, I think, at sifting out where that matters from where it doesn’t,” said senior author John M. Drake, a professor in the Odum School and director of the UGA Centre for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases. “This work highlights that ecological way of thinking and why it’s important in understanding infectious diseases.”
The biggest take home message is that these are the species that we need to prioritise. Especially as we’re in the slower part of the mosquito season, now is the time to catch up so we’re prepared for the summer. – Michelle V. Evans, doctoral student in ecology and conservation