Incursion and establishment of the Old World arbovirus vector Aedes (Fredwardsius) vittatus (Bigot, 1861) in the Americas

Benedict B Pagac; Alexandra R Spring; Jonathan R Stawicki; Thien L Dinh; Taylor Lura; Michael D Kavanaugh; David B Pecor; Silvia A Justi; Yvonne-Marie Linton

doi:10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105739

Incursion and establishment of the Old World arbovirus vector Aedes (Fredwardsius) vittatus (Bigot, 1861) in the Americas

Acta Trop. 2021 Jan:213:105739. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105739. Epub 2020 Nov 4.

Authors

Benedict B Pagac¹, Alexandra R Spring¹, Jonathan R Stawicki², Thien L Dinh³, Taylor Lura⁴, Michael D Kavanaugh⁵, David B Pecor⁶, Silvia A Justi⁶, Yvonne-Marie Linton⁷

Affiliations

¹ U.S. Army Public Health Command - Atlantic, Biosurveillance Program, Building 4411 Llewellyn Ave, Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755, USA.
² Navy Environmental Preventive Medicine Unit 5, 3235 Albacore Alley, San Diego, CA 92136, USA.
³ Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, PSC 201 Box 5239, APO AE 09522-9998, Cuba.
⁴ Navy Entomology Center of Excellence, Building 937 Child Street, Jacksonville, FL 32212, USA.
⁵ Armed Forces Pest Management Board, 2460 Linden Lane, BLDG 172, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.
⁶ Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, Museum Support Center MRC-534, Smithsonian Institution, 4210 Silver Hill Rd., Suitland MD 20746, USA; Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.
⁷ Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, Museum Support Center MRC-534, Smithsonian Institution, 4210 Silver Hill Rd., Suitland MD 20746, USA; Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA; Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History, 10th St NE & Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA. Electronic address: lintony@si.edu.

PMID: 33159899
DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105739

Abstract

Routine biosurveillance efforts at the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 18 June 2019, detected two unusual mosquitos in a CO₂-baited CDC light trap. Morphological and molecular analysis confirmed the presence of Aedes (Fredwardsius) vittatus (Bigot, 1861) - the first record of the Old World dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever virus vector into the Americas - and provides evidence for its establishment in Cuba. Newly submitted GenBank sequences from Dominican Republic further evidence its establishment in the Caribbean, and a median-joining network analysis using mitochondrial COI gene sequences clearly supports multiple introductions of Ae. vittatus into the Caribbean from the Indian subcontinent. It was determined that many Ae. vittatus COI barcode sequences in GenBank are currently misidentified as Aedes (Fredwardsius) cogilli Edwards, 1922.

Keywords: Caribbean; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Zika; chikungunya; dengue; invasive species; network analysis; new record.

MeSH terms

Aedes* / anatomy & histology
Aedes* / genetics
Aedes* / virology
Animals
Arbovirus Infections / transmission
Arboviruses
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Humans
India
Introduced Species
Mosquito Vectors* / genetics
Mosquito Vectors* / virology