Non-human primate antibody response to mosquito salivary proteins: Implications for dengue virus transmission in Puerto Rico.

An important step to incriminate a mosquito as a vector of a disease pathogen is finding evidence of direct contact between the mosquito and humans. Typically, this is accomplished through landing/biting catches, or host blood meal analysis in engorged mosquitoes via immunologic assays. An alternate approach is to identify the presence of specific mosquito anti-saliva protein antibodies in the blood of exposed hosts. Following the discovery of dengue infected, free roaming non-human primates in Puerto Rico, we investigated which mosquito species had bitten these primates using a serologic assay. Serum samples from 20 patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) and two rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) were used to evaluate mosquito bite exposure to Aedes aegypti, Aedes mediovittatus, Aedes taeniorhynchus, and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes. Of 22 non-human primates examined 20 (90%), 17 (77%), 13 (59%), and 7 (31%) were positive for exposure to Ae. mediovittatus, Cx. quinquefasciatus, Ae. taeniorhynchus, and Ae. aegypti, respectively. Our findings indicated that free-roaming primates in Puerto Rico were exposed to the bites of one proven dengue vector, Ae. aegypti and one potential dengue vector, Ae. mediovittatus.

Serological Evidence of Infection with Endemic Human Pathogens Among Free-Ranging Old World Monkeys in Puerto Rico.

Serum specimens from free-ranging but nonnative patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in southwestern Puerto Rico (PR) were tested for antibodies to infection with dengue viruses (DENVs), West Nile virus (WNV), Leptospira species, and Burkholderia pseudomallei by microneutralization, plaque reduction neutralization, microscopic agglutination, and indirect hemagglutination, respectively. Of 23 animals (21 E. patas and two M. mulatta) tested, all had evidence of prior DENV infection, and of 17 animals tested for WNV, nine (53%) had evidence of prior infection. Of 24 (22 E. patas, two M. mulatta) tested for Leptospira spp., 10 (42%) had evidence of prior exposure, and one patas monkey had antibodies against B. pseudomallei The acquisition of pathogens endemic among humans in PR by resident nonhuman primates merits further study to define modes of acquisition.