AJTMH Tropical Medicine and Hygiene News
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 4(6), 1955, pp. 1015-1027
Copyright © 1955 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tahori, A. S.
Right arrow Articles by Goldblum, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tahori, A. S.
Right arrow Articles by Goldblum, N.

Studies on the Dynamics of Experimental Transmission of West Nile Virus by Culex Molestus

Alexander S. Tahori, Velimir V. Sterk AND Natan Goldblum1
Medical Research Laboratories, Medical Corps, Israel Defense Forces

Culex molestus was infected by feeding on suspensions of West Nile virus and the virus transmitted to susceptible animals. Strains of virus recently isolated from the blood of West Nile fever patients in Israel were used. When the titer of the suspension fed was 10-4.0 or more, virus was transmitted by mosquitoes to infant mice after an extrinsic incubation period of 7–28 days. When the titer was 10-2.0 or 10-2.8, transmission did not occur, even though virus was present in the mosquitoes. The percentage of mice infected by bite seemed to be a function of the length of the extrinsic incubation period.

The titer of virus in infected mosquitoes varied considerably in different experiments and fluctuated between 10-2.2 and 10-5.7 between the 9th and 28th day of the incubation period. It was found that an infected mosquito pool may be composed of individual mosquitoes having titers of virus ranging from less than 10-1.0 to 10-3.5. Though each mosquito feeding on a suspension having a titer of 10-5.0 or more became infected, only half of those infected were able to transmit the infection by bite after a suitable incubation period. The amount of virus injected into infant mice by the bite of infected mosquitoes was found to correspond to about 1000 ID50.


1 The authors are indebted to Dr. Joseph L. Melnick, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, for helpful advice and criticism. The technical assistance of Miss Miriam Polak, Miss Erna Klein, Miss Pnina Shpigler, and Mr. Joel Medina is gratefully acknowledged.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1955 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.