Rare occurrence of natural transovarial transmission of dengue virus and elimination of infected foci as a possible intervention method

•Vertically infected Aedes larvae by dengue virus as the virus maintaining mosquitoes were observed only in 1.09% of breeding containers (Total: 130525) studied in 33 districts of Rajasthan, India.•Elimination of infected larvae could lead to effective control of dengue transmission in the study settings.

Transovarial transmission of dengue virus has been studied in 33 districts of Rajasthan, India. Small proportion (1.09%) of breeding containers positive for the virus and their elimination has been demonstrated as a possible intervention method of disease control. Dengue virus was isolated from individual mosquitoes employing Indirect Fluorescence Antibody Test and Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction. Out of 1,30,525 containers examined only 1432(1.09%) showed transovarially transmitted virus activity. Elimination of larvae from all the 1432 virus positive containers resulted in substantial control over prospective transmission of dengue. The study highlights rarity of transovarial transmission under natural conditions and sensitizes whether elimination of vertically infected foci could be used as a new intervention method.

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