Research Articles

Vertical transmission of the yellow fever virus by Aedes aegypti (Diptera, Culicidae): dynamics of infection in F1 adult progeny of orally infected females

Vertical transmission of yellow fever virus from orally infected females to their progeny was experimentally demonstrated in 2 Aedes aegypti colonies from the Dakar and Koungheul regions in Senegal. A total of 10,530 F1 adult mosquito progeny were tested. The overall vertical transmission rate was 0.97%, with no significant difference between the Dakar and Koungheul colonies. The infection rates were significantly higher in females (1.15%) than in males (0.74%) in both colonies. The virus was not isolated from the progeny of the first oviposition cycle (OVC1). The true infection rates were 0.27% and 1.99%, respectively, for the OVC2 and OVC3 progeny in the Dakar colony, and 1.1% and 1.48%, respectively, for the OVC2 and OVC3 progeny in the Koungheul colony. The infection rates increased with extrinsic incubation in both male and female offspring of the 2 colonies, reaching 5.2% in 20-day-old OVC3 female progeny in the Dakar colony. The epidemiologic consequences of these results are discussed.