The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Skuse), is an invasive species and a major pest problem in urban and suburban locales in New Jersey. To assess its potential role as an arbovirus vector, we sampled Ae. albopictus from two New Jersey counties over a 3-yr period and estimated the prevalence of virus infection by Vero cell culture and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays. Three virus isolates were obtained from 34,567 field-collected Ae. albopictus, and all were identified as Cache Valley virus by molecular methods. Ae. albopictus (N = 3,138), collected in Mercer County from late July through early September 2011, also were retested for West Nile virus (WNV) by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and all were negative. These results corroborate previous findings showing that Ae. albopictus may occasionally acquire Cache Valley virus, a deerassociated arbovirus, in nature. In contrast, we did not detect WNV infection in Ae. albopictus despite concurrent WNV amplification in this region.
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Journal of Medical Entomology
Vol. 50 • No. 6
November 2013
Vol. 50 • No. 6
November 2013
Aedes albopictus
arbovirus
Cache Valley virus
mosquito
West Nile virus