Isolation of West Nile Virus from Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Florida Keys, Monroe County, Florida

Abstract

The detection of West Nile (WN) virus in the Florida Keys instigated an effort to determine which mosquito species might serve as vectors of this virus. Mosquitoes were collected in carbon dioxide- baited light traps and assayed for WN virus by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. A total of 53,673 mosquitoes in 3,643 pools (34 species) was assayed. Five species of mosquitoes were found positive for WN virus: Culex erraticus, Cx. nigripalpus, Cx. quinquefasciatus, Ochlerotatus condolescens, and Oc. taeniorhynchus. No significant difference was detected among the infection rates for the species analyzed in this study.