Evaluation of La Crosse virus infection on host-seeking activity of mosquito Aedes triseriatus and Aedes albopictus

Parasites have been found to manipulate their hosts’ behavior to facilitate pathogen transmission in nature. For example, biting rates in La Crosse virus (LACV) infected Aedes triseriatus is higher than uninfected controls. Also, Sindbis virus infected Ae. aegypti may be less responsive to DEET than uninfected ones. However, previous work in our lab showed that LACV significantly modified Ae. triseriatus refeeding behavior but not that of infected Ae. albopictus.  Another aspect of a mosquito’s blood feeding behavior is host-seeking behavio .The purpose of this study is to determine if LACV infection alters the host-seeking behavior of Ae. triseriatus and Ae. albopictus. An alteration in host-seeking could affect the vectorial capacity of infected mosquitoes.