Enzootic mosquito vector species at equine encephalitis transmission foci in the República de Panamá.
Rolando Torres, Rafael Samudio, Jean-Paul Carrera, Josue Young, Ricardo Márquez, Lisbeth Hurtado, Scott Weaver, Luis Fernando Chaves, Robert Tesh, Lorenzo Cáceres
Author Information
Rolando Torres: Instituto Commemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Ciudad de Panamá, República de Panamá, Departmento de Entomología Medica.
Rafael Samudio: Mastozoological Society of Panamá, Ciudad de Panamá, República de Panamá.
Jean-Paul Carrera: Instituto Commemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Ciudad de Panamá República de Panamá, Departmento de Genomica y Proteomica.
Josue Young: Instituto Commemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Ciudad de Panamá, República de Panamá, Departmento de Entomología Medica.
Ricardo Márquez: Instituto Commemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Ciudad de Panamá, República de Panamá, Departmento de Entomología Medica.
Lisbeth Hurtado: Instituto Commemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Ciudad de Panamá, República de Panamá, Departmento de Análisis Epidemiológico y Bioestadísticas.
Scott Weaver: Institute for Human Infections and Immunity and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States of America.
Luis Fernando Chaves: Programa de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales (PIET), Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.
Robert Tesh: Institute for Human Infections and Immunity and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States of America.
Lorenzo Cáceres: Instituto Commemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Ciudad de Panamá, República de Panamá, Departmento de Entomología Medica. ORCID
The identification of mosquito vector species present at arboviral enzootic transmission foci is important to understand transmission eco-epidemiology and to propose and implement prevention and control strategies that reduce vector-borne equine encephalitis transmission. The goal of this study was to identify mosquito species potentially involved in the transmission of enzootic equine encephalitis, in relation to their abundance and diversity at three endemic regions in the República de Panamá. We sampled adult mosquitoes during the dry and rainy season of Panamá. We employed CDC light traps with octanol, EV traps with CO2 and Trinidad 17 traps baited with live hamsters. Traps were deployed in the peridomicile and extradomicile of houses from 18:00 to 6:00 h. We estimated the abundance and diversity of sampled species. We collected a total of 4868 mosquitoes, belonging to 45 species and 11 genera, over 216 sampling nights. Culex (Melanoconion) pedroi, a major Venezuelan equine encephalitis vector was relatively rare (< 2.0% of all sampled mosquitoes). We also found Cx. (Mel) adamesi, Cx. (Mel) crybda, Cx. (Mel) ocossa, Cx. (Mel) spissipes, Cx. (Mel) taeniopus, Cx. (Mel) vomerifer, Aedes scapularis, Ae. angustivittatus, Coquillettidia venezuelensis, Cx. nigripalpus, Cx. declarator, Mansonia titillans, M. pseudotitillans and Psorophora ferox all species known to be vectorially competent for the transmission of arboviruses. Abundance and diversity of mosquitoes in the sampled locations was high, when compared with similar surveys in temperate areas. Information from previous reports about vectorial competence / capacity of the sampled mosquito species suggest that sampled locations have all the elements to support enzootic outbreaks of Venezuelan and Eastern equine encephalitides.
References
Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2013 Apr;108(2):220-8
[PMID: 23579803]
