A review on the mosquito vectors of Flavivirus in Argentina

MARLENE KLIGER; ANÍBAL EDUARDO CARBAJO

La Plata

Congreso; II Congress of the Latin American Society for Vector Ecology; 2022

Universidad de La Plata

Infections caused by flaviviruses are among the most prevalent communicable diseases in theworld, with mosquitoes being their main vector. There are about 3,500 mosquito species, ofwhich only a small proportion transmit diseases. Knowledge of the vectors of these viruses iscrucial for understanding the ecology of flaviviruses transmission cycles in the world and,particularly, in Argentina. The aim of this work is to describe the diversity of mosquito-borneflaviviruses, to detail the vector species involved (with evidence of infection in nature andcompetence assays with positive results) or potentially involved (with only evidence of infectionin nature or positive competence assays) and to analyze their presence in Argentina and, inparticular, in Buenos Aires Province. The ICTV Report on Virus Taxonomy was used to obtaininformation of known mosquito-borne flaviviruses and, for mosquito species, an extensiveliterature search was conducted using several academic search engines. 208 papers wereconsulted. There are 20 mosquito-borne flaviviruses and 30 considering subtypes. Of these 30subtypes, 22 show evidence of human infection and 9 have evidence of circulation in Argentina(Bussuquara, Dengue 1/2/4, St. Louis Encephalitis, West Nile, Ilheus, Zika and Yellow Feverviruses). According to the available literature, 242 mosquito species were reported as vectors(45 confirmed, 197 probable) from the genera Aedes (82), Aedeomyia (2), Anopheles (33),Armigeres (1), Coquillettidia (10), Culiseta (8), Culex (69), Deinocerites (2), Eretmapodites (4),Haemagogus (5), Mansonia (9), Mimomyia (4), Orthopodomyia (1), Psorophora (7), Sabethes(4) and Uranotaenia (1). Of these, 36 species are present in Argentina, and 20 of them inBuenos Aires Province (4 Aedes, 2 Anopheles, 2 Coquillettidia, 6 Culex, 3 Mansonia and 3Psorophora). In addition to the 9 flaviviruses reported in the country, others could be potentiallyintroduced in the near future due to the presence of postulated mosquito vectors. Competencestudies is highlighted as a vacancy area as the role that many of the species with evidence ofinfection could play in transmission cycles is unknown. It is worth mentioning that localinformation is scarce, and this is very important since most of the studies are from othercontinents, where the viruses and mosquitoes’ strains are different from those of Argentina, sothe results are not entirely extrapolable. This information is a valuable input to generate apotential risk map of these flaviviruses in Buenos Aires Province.