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The Pan-American program for the eradication of this mosquito, launched in 1916, led to the elimination of urban yellow fever in 1954. Yellow fever now only persists in the Amazon rainforest, circulating among non-human primates as vertebrate hosts, with zoophilic mosquitoes as vectors. After the Ae. aegypti prevention campaigns were stopped, the species reappeared in cities in 1967.
The tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus, also emerged in Brazil in 1986. This opportunistic species is capable of colonizing a wide variety of habitats ranging from urban areas to forests, meaning that it can serve as a link between the forest cycle and a possible urban cycle of yellow fever.
The mosquitoes were infected orally, and 21 days later the saliva of more than 20 females was collected and amplified in vitro in insect cells. The viruses produced in the cell supernatant were proposed to mosquitoes beginning a new selection cycle. From the fifth cycle onward, the virus was finally detected in the mosquitoes’ saliva, indicating that viral transmission was possible.
The viral load was as high as 100 million (or 108) viral particles per mosquito saliva sample. The viruses examined showed a non-synonymous substitution in the NS1 gene in two different positions depending on the mosquito population.
NS1 is a highly conserved nonstructural viral protein involved in host immune responses. These findings suggest that YFV offers significant adaptation potential to Ae. albopictus, therefore representing a considerable threat for the majority of towns and cities in South America.