Culex quinquefasciatus from areas with the highest incidence of microcephaly associated with Zika virus infections in the Northeast Region of Brazil are refractory to the virus

• Main Authors: Rosilainy Surubi Fernandes, Stéphanie Silva Campos, Paulino Siqueira Ribeiro, Lidiane MS Raphael, Myrna C Bonaldo, Ricardo Lourenço-de-Oliveira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: Culex quinquefasciatus; Zika virus; vector competence; Brazil
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762017005007101&lng=en&tlng=en

Zika virus (ZIKV) is widely distributed in Brazil and the Northeast Region (NE) is the most affected zone, showing the highest incidence of microcephaly associated with ZIKV congenital infections worldwide. We report attempts to infect three populations of Culex quinquefasciatus from severely affected sites in the NE and Southeast Region (SE) of Brazil with three strains of ZIKV isolated from these localities. An Aedes aegypti population from the SE was used as a positive control. All tested Cx. quinquefasciatus populations were refractory to the ZIKV isolates. For these reasons, we believe Cx. quinquefasciatus should not be considered a potential vector of ZIKV in Brazil.