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SALIVARY GLAND MORPHOLOGY AND VIRUS TRANSMISSION DURING LONG-TERM CYTOPATHOLOGIC WEST NILE VIRUS INFECTION IN CULEX MOSQUITOES

The effect of long-term West Nile virus (WNV) infection on Culex salivary gland morphology and viability was evaluated by transmission electron microscopy during a four week period post-blood feeding. These studies showed that apoptosis and other cytopathologic changes occurred more frequently in WNV-infected mosquitoes compared with uninfected controls. The effect of long-term infection on WNV transmission was evaluated by titering virus in saliva over the same time period. Although the mean titer of WNV in mosquito saliva did not change significantly over time, the percentage of saliva samples containing WNV decreased. Because of the importance of saliva in blood meal acquisition and virus delivery, salivary gland pathology has the potential to affect mosquito feeding behavior and virus transmission. Results from this study add to a growing body of evidence that arbovirus infections in mosquito vectors can be cytopathic, and offer a potential mechanism for virus-induced cell death in mosquitoes.

Received June 29, 2006. Accepted for publication August 29, 2006.

Acknowledgments: We thank Jing Huang for assistance in mosquito rearing and Dr. Robert B. Tesh for providing WNV-specific mouse hyperimmune ascites fluid. We also thank Dr. Jean Nichols and Dr. Douglas Watts for helpful discussions of this work.

Financial support: This study was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grant R01AI47246. Yvette A. Girard, Bradley S. Schneider, and Charles E. McGee are supported by grant T01/ CCT622892 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Fellowship Training Program in Vector Borne Infectious Diseases.

^* Address correspondence to Stephen Higgs, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 2.104 Keiller, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-0609. E-mail: sthiggs{at}utmb.edu

Authors’ addresses: Yvette A. Girard, Bradley S. Schneider, Charles E. McGee, and Stephen Higgs, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 2.104 Keiller, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-0609, Telephone: 409-747-2426, Fax: 409-747-2436, E-mails: yagirard{at}utmb.edu, bsschnei{at}utmb.edu, cemcgee{at}utmb.edu, and sthiggs{at}utmb.edu. Julie Wen, Violet C. Han, and Vsevolod Popov, Deaprtment of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 2.102 Keiller, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-0609, Telephone: 409-747-2423, Fax: 409-747-2437, Emails: jwen{at}utmb.edu, vchan{at}utmb.edu, and vpopov{at}utmb.edu. Peter W. Mason, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Sealy Center for Vaccine Research, 3.206B Mary Moody Northern Pavilion, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-0436; Telephone: 409-747-8143, Fax: 409-747-8150, E-mail: pwmason{at}utmb.edu.

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