Rift Valley fever virus (family Bunyaviridae, genus <i>Phlebovirus</i>). Isolations from Diptera collected during an inter-epizootic period in Kenya

Abstract

A total of 134 876 Diptera collected in Kenya during a 3-year period were tested in 3383 pools for Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus. Nineteen pools of unengorged mosquitoes were found positive for RVF. All isolations were made from specimens collected at or near the naturally or artificially flooded grassland depressions that serve as the developmental sites for the immature stages of many mosquito species. The isolation of virus from adult male and female A. lineatopennis which had been reared from field-collected larvae and pupae suggests that transovarial transmission of the virus occurs in this species.