Alyssa Schwinn, MPHTM: No financial relationships to disclose
Introduction/Rationale: West Nile virus (WNV) is the leading cause of mosquito-borne illness in the contiguous U.S. and is primarily spread by Culex mosquitoes. Its broad host range and diverse vector competence make epizootic transmission difficult to predict and therefore it remains poorly understood in mammalian hosts.
Methods: To model local transmission in mammals, we measured IgG antibodies by ELISA against salivary gland extracts of Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus, as well as WNV antigen, in 78 non-human primates serially sampled at the Tulane National Primate Research Center, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana from 2019 to 2025.
Results: No overall difference in IgG responses between Ae. albopictus and Cx. quinquefasciatus was observed (p = 0.7818). However, in 2019, Ae. albopictus responses showed a stronger positive association with WNV than Cx. quinquefasciatus (ρ = 0.493, p = 0.0001; ρ = 0.328, p = 0.0145), consistent with findings from Northern cardinals in the same region and year. As expected, IgG responses to both mosquito species were strongly associated with week of sample collection in most years, while WNV responses did not display temporal relationships in any year. In seven NHPs sampled annually from 2019–2024, antibody trends were similar among all antigens.
Conclusion: These findings highlight the potential, yet underexplored, role of Ae. albopictus in WNV transmission in Louisiana and the critical need for it to be considered in local surveillance and future ecological studies.
