The invasive mosquito species Aedes albopictus: current knowledge and future perspectives

Bonizzoni, Mariangela; Gasperi, Giuliano; Chen, Xioaguang; James, Anthony A.

doi:10.1016/j.pt.2013.07.003

Cited by 519 publications

(493 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…The high sequence identity of the virus that was detected in Aedes albopictus mosquitoes to those isolated in Japan would corroborate the hypothesis that these two viruses are the same or closely related (Roiz et al, 2012), but the analysis of the complete genome of these strains would be necessary to confirm this. It is thought that Aedes albopictus has most likely brought AeFV during its recent expansion from Japan to North America and Europe (Hawley et al, 1987;Rai, 1991;Benedict et al, 2007;Enserink, 2008;Bonizzoni et al, 2013). It has also been suggested that the nucleotide sequence is relatively well conserved because ISFs are not harmful to the mosquito host and because NS5 is not affected by host immunity (Obara-Nagoya et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide detection of Aedes flavivirus in north-eastern Italy – a European hotspot of emerging mosquito-borne diseases

Grisenti

Vázquez

Herrero

et al. 2015

Journal of General Virology

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The pattern of flavivirus infection in mosquitoes belonging to the genera Aedes and Culex collected in two regions of north-eastern Italy (Trentino and Veneto) was assessed. Mosquitoes were collected during 2012 and screened for flaviviruses using a generic reverse transcriptionnested-PCR targeted on a region of the non-structural NS5 gene. The phylogenetic analysis was performed on a fragment of~1000 bp. Virus isolation was attempted in C6/36 insect cell lines and the infected cell cultures were studied by electron microscopy. We detected a wide distribution of Aedes flavivirus (AeFV) in Aedes albopictus, with higher infection prevalence in Trentino than in Veneto. In Culex pipiens collected in Veneto, we detected a new sequence of an insect-specific flavivirus and one of Usutu virus. Interestingly, we detected AeFV in C. pipiens, for the first time to our knowledge, in both regions. Viral isolation in cell culture was successful for AeFV. AeFV sequences found in Veneto showed a high percentage of similarity to those detected in Trentino and to those previously reported in other areas of northern Italy. Co-infections with different flaviviruses were not detected. INTRODUCTIONThe genus Flavivirus (family Flaviviridae) comprises .70 viruses that, according to their mechanism of transmission, are included in one of the following three groups: (1) those infecting a range of vertebrate hosts through mosquito or tick bites, called 'arthropod-borne viruses', (2) those spread without a known vector, presumed to be limited to infecting vertebrates only, and (3) those apparently limited to insects alone, called 'insect-specific flaviviruses' (ISFs) (Ishikawa & Konishi, 2011;Huhtamo et al., 2012 and references therein). The flavivirus genome contains genes coding for three structural proteins (capsid, premembrane and envelope) and seven non-structural proteins (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B and NS5) (Lindenbach et al., 2006). Regions encoding envelope, NS3 and NS5 are the most frequently used for phylogenetic analysis of flaviviruses. The inclusion of ISFs in the genus Flavivirus is supported by similarities with other flaviviruses in terms of genomic organization, polyprotein hydropathy profiles and cleavage sites, but they are not able to replicate in mammalian cells and they have been isolated only in mosquito-derived cells (Kuno, 2007;Hoshino et al., 2009;Bolling et al., 2011;Cook et al., 2012;Haddow et al., 2013).The 'arthropod-borne viruses' group includes some important emerging human and animal pathogens, such 3These authors contributed equally to this work.The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for representative sequences obtained in this work are KM871198-KM871202. Lelli et al., 2008;Manarolla et al., 2010;Tamba et al., 2011; Vázquez et al., 2011;Cerutti et al., 2012;Ravanini et al., 2012;Buchebner et al., 2013;Calzolari et al., 2013a; Höfle et al., 2013). In Europe, USUV has been recognized as a candidate human pathogen in Austria (Weissenböck et al., 2007), Italy (Cavrini et al., 2009;Pecorari et al., ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide detection of Aedes flavivirus in north-eastern Italy – a European hotspot of emerging mosquito-borne diseases

Grisenti

Vázquez

Herrero

et al. 2015

Journal of General Virology

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“…Among them, the Asian tiger mosquito, A. albopictus (Skuse), deserves a standing-alone focus. Indeed, this is currently the most invasive mosquito worldwide (Benedict et al 2007), and its medical and veterinary importance is magnified by its daytime human-biting behaviour and the ability to vector, besides dengue, a wide number of other viruses, including La Crosse encephalitis, West Nile and chikungunya (Bonizzoni et al 2013). In addition, the possibility that the Zika virus may adapt to exploit A. albopictus as a vector is a noteworthy concern, since it has been previously highlighted that other arboviruses transmitted by Culicidae have adapted to domestic animals, including The malaria vaccine RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S)] has been developed to fight P. falciparum, while it does not offer protection against P. vivax, which predominates in many countries outside of Africa.…”

Section: Eco-friendly Control Of Malaria and Arbovirus Vectors: A Crumentioning

confidence: 99%

Declining malaria, rising of dengue and Zika virus: insights for mosquito vector control

2016

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The fight against mosquito-borne diseases is a challenge of huge public health importance. To our mind, 2015 was an extraordinary year for malaria control, due to three hot news: the Nobel Prize to Youyou Tu for the discovery of artemisinin, the development of the first vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum malaria [i.e. RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S)], and the fall of malaria infection rates worldwide, with special reference to sub-Saharan Africa. However, there are major challenges that still deserve attention, in order to boost malaria prevention and control. Indeed, parasite strains resistant to artemisinin have been detected, and RTS,S vaccine does not offer protection against Plasmodium vivax malaria, which predominates in many countries outside of Africa. Furthermore, the recent outbreaks of Zika virus infections, occurring in South America, Central America and the Caribbean, represent the most recent of four arrivals of important arboviruses in the Western Hemisphere, over the last 20 years. Zika virus follows dengue (which slyly arrived in the hemisphere over decades and became more aggressive in the 1990s), West Nile virus (emerged in 1999) and chikungunya (emerged in 2013). Notably, there are no specific treatments for these arboviruses. The emerging scenario highlights that the effective and ecofriendly control of mosquito vectors, with special reference to highly invasive species such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, is crucial. The concrete potential of screening plant species as sources of metabolites for parasitological purposes is worthy of attention, as elucidated by the Y. Tu's example. Notably, plant-borne molecules are often effective at few parts per million against Aedes, Ochlerotatus, Anopheles and Culex young instars, can be used for the rapid synthesis of mosquitocidal nanoformulations and even employed to prepare cheap repellents with low human toxicity. In addition, behaviour-based control tools relying to the employ of sound traps and the manipulation of swarming behaviour (i.e. Blure and kill^approach) are discussed. The importance of further research on the chemical cues routing mosquito swarming and mating dynamics is highlighted. Besides radiation, transgenic and symbiont-based mosquito control approaches, an effective option may be the employ of biological control agents of mosquito young instars, in the presence of ultra-low quantities of nanoformulated botanicals, which boost their predation rates.

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“…Aedes spp. ), and has facilitated the transmission of tropical and subtropical pathogens to temperate regions (Paupy et al 2009, Bonizzoni et al 2013. There, alien species may also benefit from climate change (Takumi et al 2009, Walther et al 2009, Caminade et al 2012, Dobson et al 2013, causing additional pressure on human health (Keller et al 2011, Strayer 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alien species and public health impacts in Europe: a literature review

Schindler¹,

Staska²,

Adam³

et al. 2015

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Impacts of alien species on human health have recently become a major issue in medical research and invasion ecology, but comprehensive assessments of this subject are largely lacking. Here, we provide a literature review of alien species with public health impacts in Europe based on a systematic search in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science. We detected 77 relevant articles, of which 21 were reviews and 56 were original research articles. The taxonomic focus was on vascular plants (n=31 articles) and dipterans (n=25 articles). The original research articles mainly covered the spread of the study species, while early invasion stages (introduction, establishment) as well as impact and management were less investigated. Alien species of health concern in Europe are mostly introduced as contaminants, and mostly originate from climatically similar regions of the Northern Hemisphere. In those cases (36% of all articles) when information on the trend in range and abundance was provided, this trend was mostly increasing. We detected little information on the severity of the impacts (two articles) and the interaction with climate change (three articles). In 15 original articles (28%) specific management measures were suggested, in only one article the socioeconomic costs were assessed. We conclude that European research on human health impacts of alien species is biased towards few species, and that several important aspects such as early invasion stages, severity of impact and its temporal trends, and the scale of the socioeconomic costs caused are poorly understood. Interdisciplinary projects bridging gaps between ecologists medical researchers, socioeconomists and public health authorities are required to link alien species to severity and trends of impacts, which is a crucial requisite for risk assessment and decision making.

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The invasive mosquito species Aedes albopictus: current knowledge and future perspectives

Cited by 519 publications

References 83 publications

Wide detection of Aedes flavivirus in north-eastern Italy – a European hotspot of emerging mosquito-borne diseases

Wide detection of Aedes flavivirus in north-eastern Italy – a European hotspot of emerging mosquito-borne diseases

Declining malaria, rising of dengue and Zika virus: insights for mosquito vector control

Alien species and public health impacts in Europe: a literature review

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