[Aedes aegypti (L.): importance of its bioecology in the transmission of dengue and other arboviruses. I]

Abstract

The bioecological parameters which are of special importance in the epidemiology of Dengue, Yellow Fever, and other arboviruses are discussed. Three levels are retained: the nature of Aedes aegypti-man contacts, the susceptibility of the mosquito to the pathogen and multiplication of the latter, and the transmission. The trophic preferences, the density variations, the daily survival rate, the egg diapause, and man influences are the main vector-dependent ecological factors. Temperature and genetical nature of viral and mosquito strains are particularly important in susceptibility and multiplication studies. Efficacy of the oral transmission is also temperature-dependent and mainly genetically determined. The true natural role of transovarial transmission is not yet well understood. Thus, the breaking up and/or prevention of epidemics would be possible only with a thorough knowledge of the relation between the above biological factors and the epidemiological situation. A list is provided of the naturally or experimentally Aedes aegypti transmitted arboviruses (103), protozoans (5) and filaria (20).