Brazil’s common house mosquitoes may be carrying Zika virus

July 25, 2016

The “presence of the Zika virus” in Culex mosquitoes or the common house mosquitoes in the eastern city of Recife, Brazil was recently announced by researchers in the country.

But their findings caution that additional studies are still required to assess the potential participation of the Culex mosquitoes in the potential spread of the virus and their role in the epidemic. The World Health Organization said the new research is a welcome addition to the existing body of Zika research but also agreed that more study is needed to confirm whether Culex mosquitoes can transmit the Zika virus.

Researchers collected 500 mosquitoes and divided them into pools of between 1 and 10 mosquitoes. They found the virus in three pools of mosquitoes. The presence of the virus in these mosquitoes does not mean they can transmit the virus.

Before this study was completed by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the Aedes aegypti mosquito was thought to be the only carrier of the virus.Culex mosquitoes are “20 times greater than the population of Aedes aegypti” in the Recife metropolitan area, according to the study.

Fiocruz is a public institution attached to the Brazilian Ministry of Health. It is one of Brazil’s oldest and most respected health care institutions and has been at the forefront of the fight against Zika.

Tom Skinner, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s senior press officer, said in response to the study’s findings, “the study would need to be replicated to have a better understanding of possible implications. Body of scientific evidence to date clearly points to Aedes being the primary vector implicated in Zika outbreaks.”

A US study published recently in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases found that a different type of Culex mosquito, Culex pipiens, was not capable of transmitting the Zika virus, leading researchers to conclude that transmission in the U.S. from these mosquitoes is unlikely.

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