Application of an embryonated chicken egg model to assess the vector competence of Australian Culicoides midges for bluetongue viruses

In this study, a model using embryonated chicken eggs (ECEs) was utilized to undertake vector competence studies of Australian Culicoides spp. for 13 laboratory‐adapted or wild‐type virus strains of BTV. A total of 7393 Culicoides brevitarsis were reared from bovine dung, and 3364 Culicoides were induced to feed from ECEs infected with different strains of BTV. Of those, 911 (27%) survived the putative extrinsic incubation period of 9–12 days. In some trials, virus was also transmitted onward to uninfected ECEs, completing the transmission cycle. This model does not rely on the use of colonized midges and has the capacity to assess the vector competence of field‐collected insects with strains of virus that have not previously been passaged in laboratory culture systems. There is also potential for this model to be used in investigations of the competence of Culicoides spp. for other arboviruses.
Source: Medical and Veterinary Entomology - Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research