Vertical transmission of dengue viruses by strains of Aedes albopictus recently introduced into Brazil.

Three strains of Aedes albopictus from Brazil were examined for their ability to vertically transmit dengue 1 (DEN-1) and dengue 4 (DEN-4) viruses. Parental females were uniformly infected by parenteral inoculation of virus, and 8,121 F1 progeny from DEN-1 and DEN-4 infected mothers were pooled in lots of approximately 50 and tested for virus. Seven of 60 pools were positive for DEN-1 virus, and 1 of 121 pools was positive for DEN-4 virus. In DEN-1 assays, the minimum infection rate (MIR) for larvae (2 pools tested) was 1:84. Among positive cohorts of adults, pooled by sex and by geographic strain of mosquito, the MIR ranged from 1:193 to 1:626 for males and from 1:187 to 1:311 for females. Only a single pool of adult females was positive for DEN-4 virus (MIR 1:1022 for an adult female cohort from Santa Teresa). These results indicate that Brazilian Ae. albopictus have the potential to play a role in the maintenance of dengue viruses in nature.