Effect of the Anesthetizing Agent Triethylamine on Western Equine Encephalomyelitis and St. Louis Encephalitis Viral Titers in Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Triethylamine (TEA) is a chemical compound that provides an effective means to anesthetize mosquitoes. The mosquitoes remain alive but are incapacitated for several hours; they do not recover following treatment. There was no effect on the titers of infectious virus recovered from western equine encephalomyelitis or St. Louis encephalitis virus-infected Culex tarsalis Coquillett and Aedes dorsalis (Meigen) that were anesthetized with TEA prior to storage at -70 degrees C. Furthermore, TEA had no effect on isoenzyme profiles of uninfected Cx. tarsalis.