A study published on Monday states that female mosquitoes can transmit the Zika virus to their eggs, which suggests that the efforts to kill adult mosquitoes are insufficient.
Scientists from the medical unit of the University of Texas wanted to know whether female mosquitoes could pass the infection to their eggs, as it happens with dengue or yellow fever. Therefore, they injected Zika to lab mosquitoes, whose eggs were incubated until the larvae could be tested.
The results showed that one out of every 290 larvae had the virus.
The proportion may seem low, but if we consider the number of Aedes aegypti in an urban tropical community, it’s most likely high enough to allow the virus to persist, even when infected adult mosquitoes die,”
said Robert Tesh, co-author of the study.
Fumigating affected adults does not always kill immature eggs or larvae formations,”
said Tesh, whose study was published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Using insecticide will reduce the transmission, but it probably won’t eliminate the virus.”
The vertical transmission of the female mosquito eggs can help the virus survive even in adverse conditions, such as during the dry season in tropical areas.
The researchers now have to find out whether the natural transmission also has the same characteristics as the lab-controlled transmission.
The World Health Organization has declared Zika as an international health emergency because it can cause birth defects, including severe brain damage and microcephaly.
This virus is also transmitted by sexual contact.
Authorities from many countries urged pregnant women and their partners not to travel to countries where Zika virus is active, mostly in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Florida, in the southeastern United States, has also reported 43 cases of local transmission of Zika in parts of Miami and Palm Beach.