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. 2021 Jul 16;58(4):1948-1951.
doi: 10.1093/jme/tjab013.

Susceptibility of Midge and Mosquito Vectors to SARS-CoV-2

Velmurugan Balaraman  1 , Barbara S Drolet  2 , Natasha N Gaudreault  1 , William C Wilson  2 , Jeana Owens  2 , Dashzeveg Bold  1 , Dustin A Swanson  2 , Dane C Jasperson  2 , Leela E Noronha  2 , Juergen A Richt  1 , Dana N Mitzel  2
Affiliations

Susceptibility of Midge and Mosquito Vectors to SARS-CoV-2

Velmurugan Balaraman et al. J Med Entomol. .

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is a recently emerged, highly contagious virus and the cause of the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is a zoonotic virus, although its animal origin is not clear yet. Person-to-person transmission occurs by inhalation of infected droplets and aerosols, or by direct contact with contaminated fomites. Arthropods transmit numerous viral, parasitic, and bacterial diseases; however, the potential role of arthropods in SARS-CoV-2 transmission is not fully understood. Thus far, a few studies have demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 replication is not supported in cells from certain insect species nor in certain species of mosquitoes after intrathoracic inoculation. In this study, we expanded the work of SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility to biting insects after ingesting a SARS-CoV-2-infected bloodmeal. Species tested included Culicoides sonorensis (Wirth & Jones) (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) biting midges, as well as Culex tarsalis (Coquillett) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), all known biological vectors for numerous RNA viruses. Arthropods were allowed to feed on SARS-CoV-2-spiked blood and at a time point postinfection analyzed for the presence of viral RNA and infectious virus. Additionally, cell lines derived from C. sonorensis (W8a), Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Culicidae) (C6/36), Cx. quinquefasciatus (HSU), and Cx. tarsalis (CxTrR2) were tested for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility. Our results indicate that none of the biting insects, nor the insect cell lines evaluated support SARS-CoV-2 replication, suggesting that these species are unable to be biological vectors of SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; midges; mosquito; susceptibility.

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