Blood-Feeding Behavior of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Infected Culicoides sonorensis (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

• Published in: Journal of medical entomology Vol. 45; no. 5; pp. 921 - 926
• Main Authors: Bennett, Kristine E, Hopper, Jessica E, Stuart, Melissa A, West, Mark, Drolet, Barbara S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.09.2008
• Subjects: adverse effects; animal diseases; Animals; arthropod-borne diseases; biting rates; Ceratopogonidae - physiology; Ceratopogonidae - virology; Culicoides sonorensis; disease transmission; epidemiological studies; Feeding Behavior - physiology; hematophagous insects; hematophagy; host-pathogen relationships; infection; insect behavior; livestock; midges; physiological response; Sheep - blood; Time Factors; vector-borne diseases; vectorial capacity; vesicular stomatitis; Vesicular stomatitis New Jersey virus - physiology; Vesiculovirus; virus transmission
• ISSN: 0022-2585; 1938-2928
• DOI: 10.1603/0022-2585%282008%2945%5B921%3ABBOVSV%5D2.0.CO%3B2

To determine whether vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) infection of Culicoides sonorensis Wirth & Jones (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) affects subsequent blood-feeding behavior, midges injected with either virus-infected or virus-free cell lysates were allowed to blood feed for short (10-min) or long (60-min) periods on 2, 3, and 4 d postinoculation (DPI). Generalized linear mixed models were fit to test the effects of infection status, duration of feeding period, and DPI on the percentage of females that blood fed. VSV-infection significantly reduced the percentage of females that blood fed on 2 DPI, the day of peak virus titer. On 3 DPI a significantly greater percentage of midges blood fed when allowed 60 min to feed. This effect was not seen on 2 and 4 DPI and was not dependent on VSV infection status. The impact of changes in blood-feeding behavior by infected insects on virus transmission is discussed.