Citywide Integrated Aedes aegypti Mosquito Surveillance as Early Warning System for Arbovirus Transmission, Brazil.

Arbovirus epidemiology lacks efficient and timely surveillance systems with accurate outbreak alert signals. We devised a citywide integrated surveillance system combining entomologic, epidemiologic, and entomo-virologic data gathered during 2017-2020 in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. We installed 3,476 adult mosquito traps across the city and inspected traps every 2 months. We compared 5 entomologic indices: traditional house and Breteau indices for larval surveys and trap positivity, adult density, and mosquitoes per inhabitant indices for adult trapping. We screened for dengue, Zika, and chikungunya viruses in live adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes collected from traps. Indices based on adult mosquito sampling had higher outbreak predictive values than larval indices, and we were able to build choropleth maps of infestation levels <36 h after each round of trap inspection. Locating naturally infected vectors provides a timely support tool for local public health managers to prioritize areas for intervention response to prevent virus outbreaks.

Levels of Resistance to Pyrethroid among Distinct kdr Alleles in Aedes aegypti Laboratory Lines and Frequency of kdr Alleles in 27 Natural Populations from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

BACKGROUND: Several mutations in voltage gated sodium channel (NaV) have been identified in Aedes aegypti populations worldwide. However, only few are related to knockdown resistance to pyrethroids, most of which with variations in the 1016 and 1534 NaV sites. In Brazil, at least two NaV alleles are known: NaVR1, with a substitution in the 1534 (1016 Val+ + 1534 Ile kdr ) and NaVR2, with substitutions in both 1016 and sites (1016Ilekdr + 1534Cys kdr ). There is also the duplication in the NaV gene, with one copy carrying the substitution Ile1011Met, although its effects on pyrethroid resistance remain to be clarified. Our goals in this study were (1) to determine the role of each kdr NaV allele and the duplication on pyrethroid resistance and (2) to screen the frequency of the kdr alleles in 27 several natural Ae. aegypti populations from the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. METHODS: Pyrethroid resistance was evaluated by a knockdown time (KdT) assay, an adaptation of the WHO test tubes with paper impregnated with deltamethrin. We used laboratory-selected Ae. aegypti lineages: R1R1 and R2R2 (homozygous for the kdr NaVR1 and NaVR2 alleles, respectively), Dup (with duplication in the NaV gene), Rockefeller (the susceptibility reference control), and F1 hybrids among them. Genotyping of both 1016 and 1534 NaV sites was performed in 811 Ae. aegypti sampled from 27 localities from Rio de Janeiro (17), Niterói (6) and Nova Iguaçu (4) cities, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, with a TaqMan real time PCR approach. RESULTS: The laboratory lineages R1R1, R2R2, and R1R2 were the only ones that needed more than 60 minutes to knock down all the insects exposed to the pyrethroid, being the KdT R2R2 > R1R2 > R1R1, corroborating the recessive nature of the kdr mutations. Frequency of kdr alleles NaVR1 and NaVR2 in field-caught mosquitoes varied from 0 to 52% and 43 to 86%, respectively, evidencing high levels of "resistant genotypes" (R1R1, R1R2, and R2R2), which together summed 60 to 100% in Ae. aegypti populations from Rio de Janeiro. CONCLUSIONS: The NaVR1 and NaVR2 kdr alleles confer resistance to the pyrethroid deltamethrin in homozygotes and R1R2 heterozygotes, being the R2R2 most resistant genotype. The allele containing duplication in the NaV gene, with a mutation in the 1011 site, did not confer resistance under the tested conditions. The frequencies of the "resistant genotypes" are elevated in Ae. aegypti natural populations from Rio de Janeiro.