First isolation of Aedes flavivirus in the Western Hemisphere and evidence of vertical transmission in the mosquito Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae)

We report here the first evidence of vertical transmission of Aedes flavivirus (AEFV) and its first isolation in the Western Hemisphere. AEFV strain SPFLD-MO-2011-MP6 was isolated in C6/36 cells from a pool of male Aedes albopictus mosquitoes that were reared to adults from larvae collected in southwest Missouri, USA, in 2011. Electron micrographs of the virus showed virions of approximately 45 nm in diameter with morphological characteristics associated with flaviviruses. The genomic sequence demonstrated that AEFV-SPFLD-MO-2011-MP6 shares a high degree of nucleotide and amino acid sequence identity with the AEFV Narita-21 strain, isolated in Japan in 2003. Intracerebral inoculation of newborn mice with the virus failed to produce observable illness or death and the virus did not replicate in vertebrate cells, consistent with a lack of vertebrate host range.

► The first report of Aedes flavivirus (AEFV) in the Western Hemisphere.
► The first evidence of vertical transmission of AEFV in mosquitoes.
► The first electron micrograph of AEFV.
► The first attempt to infect animals with AEFV.