Bite transmission of vesicular stomatitis virus (New jersey serotype) to laboratory mice by Simulium vittatum (Diptera : Simuliidae)

Laboratory-reared female black flies (Simulium vittatum Zetterstedt) were i nfected experimentally with a 1997 vesicular stomatitis virus New Jersey se rotype isolate and allowed to feed on susceptible laboratory mice. All mice exposed to black fly bite seroconverted by day 21 after infection, an indi cation of virus transmission. In addition, vir al RNA was detected in the s pleen of several mice. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis th at black flies are involved in VSV-NJ transmission during epizootics in the western USA and represent the 1st confirmed example of biological transmis sion of an arbovirus by a member of the Simuliidae using an animal model.