Mateus do Rosário of Roberto Santos Hospital in BrazilASTMH, ISADORA SIQUEIRA
Mosquitos can carry and transmit Zika and chikungunya viruses simultaneously, according to findings presented today (November 14) at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), held in Atlanta. The work is part of a growing body of research on overlapping outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases.
In a laboratory experiment conducted by Colorado State University researchers, mosquitos that fed on blood containing Zika, chikungunya, and dengue viruses could carry Zika and chikungunya at the same time, and therefore, the insects could infect a person with both viruses in a single bite. “Their saliva is clearly testing positive for both, which could mean that people bitten by this type of mosquito could be infected by both viruses at once,” Claudia Rückert ...
