Laboratory transmission of Rift Valley fever virus by Phlebotomus duboscqi, Phlebotomus papatasi, Phlebotomus sergenti, and Sergentomyia schwetzi (Diptera : Psychodidae)

We examined the potential for Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli), Phlebotomus d uboscqi (Neveu-Lemarie), Phlebotomus sergenti (Parrot), and Sergentomyia sc hwetzi (Adler, Theodor, & Parrot) to transmit Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus . After. feeding on hamsters that had been inoculated with RVF virus. P. pa patasi, P. sergenti, and S. schwetzi became infected and developed dissemin ated infections. All P, papatasi and P, duboscqi inoculated with RVF virus developed high-titer infections. In contrast, only 41% of the inoculated S. schwetzi contained detectable virus, and infected individuals contained si gnificantly less virus than the two Phlebotomus species. Although 50% of th e inoculated P. duboscqi transmitted RVF virus to hamsters, only 14% of P. papatasi and none of the S, schwetzi transmitted this virus. Additional stu dies are needed to determine the role of sand flies as vectors of RVF virus .