Biased virus transmission following sequential coinfection of Aedes aegypti with dengue and Zika viruses
Fig 2
Previously DENV infected A. aegypti have significantly reduced susceptibility to ZIKV infection.
A. aegypti mosquitoes were initially infected with DENV through intrathoracic inoculation and then injected with ZIKV after 7 days. The vector competence of ZIKV in A. aegypti was analyzed 7 days post coinfection (dpci). Two control groups were set as follows: (1) mosquitoes were initially injected with DMEM and later, after a 7-day interval, with ZIKV (group DMEM+ZIKV), (2) mosquitoes were initially injected with DENV and later, after a 7-day interval, with DMEM (group DENV+DMEM) (A). The results indicate that ZIKV replication, dissemination (B), and transmission (C) in DENV-infected A. aegypti are all significantly reduced. However, subsequent ZIKV infection did not influence DENV replication, dissemination (D), and transmission potential (E). n = 9–15 for each group. Bars represent mean ± SEM, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, and **** P < 0.0001 by two-tailed Mann Whitney U test. The mosquito clipart in the figure (as well as in the figures below) was obtained from OpenClipart.