Yellow Fever Vectors: Updating the distribution of these mosquito species (Diptera:Culicidae) in Argentina

MUTTIS, EVANGELINA; BONICA MELISA BERENICE; MICIELI, MARÍA VICTORIA; BALSALOBRE, AGUSTIN; CECCARELLI, SOLEDAD; CANO, MARIA EUGENIA; CHUCHUY, AILÉN; MARTI, GERARDO ANÍBAL

MANAUS, STATE OF AMAZONAS, BRAZIL

Congreso; 1st ANNUAL MEETING OF THE LATIN AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR VECTOR ECOLOGY; 2019

Society of Vector Ecology

Yellow fever (YF) is an endemic disease in tropical areas of Africa and South America whose etiologic agent is the yellow fever virus (YFV) (Flaviviridae). This disease presents a sylvan cycle involving nonhuman primates (NHP) and diurnal mosquitoes (Haemagogus sp. and Sabethes sp.) that breed in these areas where humans might be incidentally infected and an urban cycle where the virus circulates among Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and humans. There is no intermediate cycle known so far in South America, and it is presumed that the dispersion to urban areas would be due to sporadic bites to humans in the sylvan areas where wild mosquitoes feed on monkeys Alouatta and Cebus genera, which are the main host/reservoirs of YFV. In Argentina, between 2007 and 2008, epizootics were reported in howler monkeys, causing high mortality in natural populations. This reemergence of YF represents a risk for human populations, and it is necessary to conduct studies on distribution geographic patterns of sylvan mosquito species that are involved in these epizootics. These species have been poorly reported in the last years (mainly in Yungas and Paranaense phytogeographic provinces), although their historical distribution covers all of Northern Argentina. In this study, we developed a database which gathers all the information available in literature and biological collections. Following the format of DarwinCore, the database includes 76 fields grouped in categories: systematic, administrative divisions, geographical coordinates, specimen collection date, name/s of specimen collector/s, sampled habitat, sampling protocol, total number of individuals sampled, references of the record. Recently, 35 scientific publications were reviewed and the database consists of 445 records. Once these were obtained, distribution maps were made through QGIS. The resulting maps of the genera Haemagogus sp. and Sabethes sp. showed that despite having reviewed 35 from approximately 100 papers (35%), it is already possible to confirm the original areas in addition to finding records in different areas such as the Chaco phytogeographic province. Furthermore, field studies to be carried out in the coming years, will be conducted to update this species distribution patterns and corroborate their historical distribution.