Emerging Infectious Diseases (Aug 2001)

West Nile Virus in Overwintering Culex Mosquitoes, New York City, 2000

  • Roger S. Nasci,
  • Harry M. Savage,
  • Dennis J. White,
  • James R. Miller,
  • Bruce C. Cropp,
  • Marvin S. Godsey,
  • Amy J. Kerst,
  • Paul Bennett,
  • Kristy Gottfried,
  • Robert S. Lanciotti

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid0704.017426
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 4
pp. 742 – 744

Abstract

Read online

After the 1999 West Nile (WN) encephalitis outbreak in New York, 2,300 overwintering adult mosquitoes were tested for WN virus by cell culture and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. WN viral RNA and live virus were found in pools of Culex mosquitoes. Persistence in overwintering Cx. pipiens may be important in the maintenance of WN virus in the northeastern United States.

Keywords