一份报告说，利用蚊子进食之后留下的唾液，可以追踪蚊媒疾病的传播。在澳大利亚的两个地点进行的实地试验中，Andrew van den Hurk及其同事让捕捉到的蚊子在浸泡了蜜的滤纸上进食，然后分析了纸张上致病病毒的痕迹。
这组科学家发现了与罗斯河病毒以及Barmah森林病毒有关的RNA，这些病原体已知在该地区的蚊子种群中普遍存在。这组作者报告说，病毒RNA在滤纸上至少保存了7天，在一些情况下，蚊子只需要探测这些滤纸而不需要进食就可以转移它们的唾液中的病毒证据。
目前的蚊媒疾病监测方法包括诊断患者的症状、探测动物疾病，或者对单个蚊子进行处理。这种方法比传统技术在探测蚊子感染病毒方面的灵敏度更高，而传统方法需要科学家分析来自现场的数以千计的蚊子样本，或者在实验室试验中收集蚊子个体的唾液。这组作者提出，这种技术可能用于探测疟疾等疾病，或者作为动物模型之外的另一种方法，在实验室证明病原体的传播。
原文出处：
PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1002040107
Exploiting mosquito sugar feeding to detect mosquito-borne pathogens
Sonja Hall-Mendelina, Scott A. Ritchieb,c, Cheryl A. Johansend, Paul Zborowskia, Giles Cortise, Scott Dandridgef, Roy A. Halla, and Andrew F. van den Hurkg,a,1
aSchool of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia;
bSchool of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia;
cTropical Population Health Unit Network, Queensland Health, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia;
dDiscipline of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009, Australia;
ePrivate Contracting Engineer;
fThe Shire of Harvey, Australind, Western Australia 6233, Australia; and
gVirology, Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services, Coopers Plains, Queensland 4108, Australia
Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) represent a global public health problem, with dengue viruses causing millions of infections annually, while emerging arboviruses, such as West Nile, Japanese encephalitis, and chikungunya viruses have dramatically expanded their geographical ranges. Surveillance of arboviruses provides vital data regarding their prevalence and distribution that may be utilized for biosecurity measures and the implementation of disease control strategies. However, current surveillance methods that involve detection of virus in mosquito populations or sero-conversion in vertebrate hosts are laborious, expensive, and logistically problematic. We report a unique arbovirus surveillance system to detect arboviruses that exploits the process whereby mosquitoes expectorate virus in their saliva during sugar feeding. In this system, infected mosquitoes captured by CO2-baited updraft box traps are allowed to feed on honey-soaked nucleic acid preservation cards within the trap. The cards are then analyzed for expectorated virus using real-time reverse transcription-PCR. In field trials, this system detected the presence of Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses in multiple traps deployed at two locations in Australia. Viral RNA was preserved for at least seven days on the cards, allowing for long-term placement of traps and continuous collection of data documenting virus presence in mosquito populations. Furthermore no mosquito handling or processing was required and cards were conveniently shipped to the laboratory overnight. The simplicity and efficacy of this approach has the potential to transform current approaches to vector-borne disease surveillance by streamlining the monitoring of pathogens in vector populations.
