ABSTRACT
Usutu virus (USUV; Flavivirus) has caused massive die-offs in birds across Europe since the 1950s. Although rare, severe neurologic disease in humans has been reported. USUV is genetically related to West Nile virus (WNV) and shares an ecological niche, suggesting it could spread from Europe to the Americas. USUV's risk of transmission within the United States is currently unknown. To this end, we exposed field-caught Aedes japonicus, Culex pipiens pipiens, and Culex restuans-competent vectors for WNV-to a recent European isolate of USUV. While infection rates for each species varied from 7%-21%, no dissemination or transmission was observed. These results differed from a 2018 report by Cook and colleagues, who found high dissemination rates and evidence of transmission potential using a different USUV strain, U.S. mosquito populations, temperature, and extrinsic incubation period. Future studies should evaluate the impact of these experimental conditions on USUV transmission by North American mosquitoes.
