BLOOD-FEEDING BEHAVIOR OF DENGUE-2 VIRUS-INFECTED AEDES-AEGYPTI

This study was designed to determine if infection of Aedes aegypti wit h dengue-2 virus affects the ability of the mosquito to efficiently lo cate and imbibe blood from an uninfected host. Previous studies sugges t that some parasites manipulate their arthropod host to increase the probability of transmission by interfering with blood-feeding efficien cy. We found no evidence that dengue-2 virus infection by intrathoraci c inoculation impaired the blood-feeding efficiency of Ae. aegypti. We speculate that natural selection has not favored the evolution of den gue viruses that increase vector probing time because uninfected Ae. a egypti take multiple blood meals during each gonotrophic cycle and fur ther increases in vector probing would not significantly increase viru s fitness.