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University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers detected zika in the saliva of southern house mosquitoes collected in Florida. Chelsea Smartt, an associate professor at the UF/IFAS Florida Medical Entomology Lab in Vero Beach, Florida, said her study’s finding supports that the mosquito species, known scientifically as Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes, can contain live Zika virus in saliva.
Mosquito species Aedes aegypti is considered the primary carrier of Zika virus. In 2016, zika caused cases of microcephaly – a rare neurological condition in which an infant’s head is significantly smaller than the heads of other children of the same age and gender—in some newborns in the United States, due in part to traveler-related global spread of zika virus.
Culex quinquefasciatus is common in the southern U.S. and is abundant in Florida, the mosquito is found in tropical and sub-tropical areas, including Brazil, Africa and Southeast Asia. In areas of the world where these mosquitoes feed on humans, there may be populations of Culex quinquefasciatus that can spread zika.
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