This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Researchers detect Zika vector for the first time in Wisconsin

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Researchers at the Upper Midwestern Center of Excellence in Vector Borne Diseases, a CDC-funded center to increase surveillance efforts in the Midwest, have identified three individuals of the mosquito, Aedes albopictus, in Wisconsin for the first time, according to a press release.

The researchers surmise the individual mosquitoes may have come to Wisconsin from interstate travel. Although the identification of the mosquito may seem worrying, local transmission of Zika in Wisconsin is unlikely, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Aedes albopictus, a vector of both West Nile virus and Zika virus, was recently identified in Wisconsin for the first time.

Source: James Gathany/CDC

“With the number of specimens we’ve found, it’s important to be alerted, but not cause for alarm,” Lyric Bartholomay, PhD, a leader of the vector disease center and entomologist at University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in the release. “So far in the Midwest, Aedes albopictus has not been associated with the transmission of Zika virus.”

Designed to educate epidemiologists and improve surveillance of and response to vector-borne diseases, the center studies mosquitos that can spread Zika virus, West Nile virus, dengue and chikungunya, in addition to ticks that spread Lyme disease. The A. aeqypti mosquito, which primarily spreads Zika, has not been spotted in Wisconsin or neighboring states; however, traveling to locations with active transmission of Zika virus or having sexual contact with travelers can increase the risk for infection with Zika in Wisconsin. Most importantly, there is no evidence of local transmission of Zika in Wisconsin.

Earlier this year, the CDC awarded a $10 million grant to a group of Midwestern universities, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which leads the Upper Midwestern Center of Excellence in Vector Borne Diseases. With long-term support from the CDC, the center will continue to monitor how populations of vectors that carry disease circulate through the region over time to help lessen health risks.

However, the Trump administration’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 calls for funding reductions of $1.2 billion for the CDC, putting surveillance programs like this in danger.

“As a result of the CDC grant, we were able to ramp up surveillance for many different things,” Susan Paskewitz, PhD, a leader of the vector disease center and entomologist at University of Wisconsin-Madison, said. “We are doing more surveillance for West Nile virus as well as targeted surveillance for Zika vectors.”

Disclosure: Infectious Disease News was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.