West Nile virus in host-seeking mosquitoes within a residential neighborhood in Grand Forks, North Dakota

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) was first recovered in North Dakota near the city of Grand Forks in June 2002. During 2002, 2003, and 2004, we collected mosquitoes from Grand Forks using Mosquito Magnet traps and tested them for WNV. The seasonal abundance, species composition, and reproductive status of female mosquitoes were correlated with local environmental temperature and state surveillance data on WNV to determine the factors affecting local transmission of WNV. Over 90% of the mosquitoes collected were Aedes vexans, Ochlerotatus dorsalis, and Culex tarsalis, but WNV was detected only in Cx. tarsalis. Average summertime temperatures and relative abundance of mosquitoes were highest in 2002 but no WNV-positive mosquitoes were detected until the following summer. In 2003, nulliparous Cx. tarsalis appeared in mid-June (first summer brood), and parous Cx. tarsalis appeared in mid-July. The first WNV-positive pool occurred 21 July, and minimum daily infections rates increased thereafter until 27 August. The minimum infection rate (MIR) for Cx. tarsalis during the season was 5.7 infected mosquitoes per 1,000 tested, with the highest infection rates occurring at the end of the season as Cx. tarsalis populations started to decline. Mid-to-late August was identified as the period of highest risk for being bitten by a WNV-infected mosquito in Grand Forks during 2003. In 2004, viral activity in Grand Forks was low, due to very cool temperatures throughout the summer. To examine the genetic diversity of the 2003 WNV isolates from Grand Forks, we sequenced a 366-nucleotide region of the capsid and premembrane gene. Thirteen (46%) of the 28 WNV isolates contained at least one nucleotide substitution when compared to the homologous region of the progenitor WN NY-99 strain, and seven of these 13 substitutions coded for amino acid changes. Thus, WNV is established in North Dakota, it appears to be evolving and it is vectored primarily by Cx. tarsalis.