The preliminary findings coming out of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, if found to be accurate, could be a game changer, say some experts, according to the Washington Post.
The scientists captured over 500 Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes in and around the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, the capital of the state that was hardest hit by the Zika outbreak. As Reuters has noted previously, this is the same group of scientists that were able to artificially transmit the Zika virus to Culex mosquitoes in the laboratory in March, this year.
But the research team wanted to know if the Culex mosquito can carry the Zika virus in the wild. Right now, with this latest information, the scientists are still being cautious, wanting to confirm their results with further testing. It should also be noted that the researchers have yet to confirm that the Culex mosquito can successfully transmit Zika, even if it does prove to be a carrier.
Some experts are taking the news with a grain of salt, so to speak. In the statement released on Thursday, the researchers said: “The technique used was a quantitative RT-PCR based detection of RNA that identified ribonucleic acid from the virus. The findings confirm the species as a potential vector of the virus.”
In conclusion, the statement read: “The data obtained will require additional studies to assess the potential participation of Culex in the spread of Zika virus and its role in the epidemic. The current study is very important since the vector control measures are different. Until the results of new evidence, the control policy Zika epidemic still guided by the same guidelines, with its central focus on the control of Aedes aegypti“
Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas said that if researchers have found Zika in Culex mosquitoes only a handful of times, “it’s hard to know what that means; it may not be a finding of great biological significance.” But if they are detecting the virus in Culex mosquitoes in large numbers and on a consistent basis, “That would be a game changer.”
The introduction of a new strain of mosquito as a vector of the Zika virus is the important part of the announcement. The Culex mosquito has a much broader range than Aedes aegypti, the species primarily responsible for transmitting the Zika virus.
Culex mosquitoes are able to withstand more temperate climates, and they are common across the Americas and in tropical and subtropical climates elsewhere. In Recife, Brazil, Culex mosquitoes are about 20 times more common than the Aedes mosquito.
The C. quinquefasciatus shows a preference to feed on the blood of birds but will also commonly bite humans. It rests in trees and high places. It breeds profusely in dirty water collections, including stagnant drains, cesspools, septic tanks with leaks, burrow pits, and almost any place where there is polluted water collections.
The Culex mosquito is a vector for lymphatic filariasis, avian malaria, St. Louis encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, and West Nile fever, and now, it may be a vector for Zika virus.