Demostración del virus de la encefalitis equina venezolana tipo enzoótico en la hemolinfa de mosquitos psorophora confinnis infectados por vía oral

Abstract

Experiments are reported describing the recovery of an enzootic strain of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis virus from the haemolymph of Psorophora confinnis (Arribalzaga, 1891) mosquitoes which were previously infected by feeding them upon a viremic hamster. The virus could be demonstrated in the haemolymph of 66,6% of the mosquitoes fed 24 hours before upon a viremic hamster; at the second and ninth day after the infection the positiveness in the haemolymph was 75% and at sixth, seventh, eighth, tenth. eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth day the positiveness was 100 per cent. All the mosquitoes that were positive in the haemolymph were tested individually for virus in the mosquito body and it was found a perfect correlation between both methods. When the mosquito haemolyph was negative, the whole mosquito also showed the same result. Some positive mosquitoes were taken at random and their haemolymphs and hodies were titered to compare the virus level and there was not a significant difference between the virus concentration in the haemolymph and that of the mosquito body.