WNV Surveillance Detects Jamestown Canyon Virus, NYS, USA (2)

[1]
From: "Bryon P. Backenson" <bpb01@health.state.ny.us>
Date: August 6, 2004

... We've detected a fair amount of non-WNV arboviral activity in
mosquitoes this year. Most of it is Flanders virus, which isn't a
human pathogen. But in addition to the Clinton County isolation, we've
had 6 other Jamestown Canyon isolations, 2 EEE isolations, and 1
Lacrosse isolation. While Jamestown Canyon and Lacrosse are human
pathogens, the EEE is our biggest worry at present.

[WNV-L Moderator's Note: For current information about other detections
of EEE, see ProMED-mail posting 20040806.2151]

P. Bryon Backenson
Acting Director, Arthropod-Borne Disease Program
New York State Department of Health
ESP, Corning Tower Room 632
Albany, NY 12237
phone: 518-474-4568
fax: 518-473-1708
e-mail: bpb01@health.state.ny.us

--------------

[2]
RE: MOSQUITO SPECIES NAMES IN AUG 5 POSTING ABOUT JAMESTOWN CANYON VIRUS

Excerpted from ProMED-mail ID 20040806.2153
From: Mike Service, ProMED-mail Medical Entomology Moderator
<mservice@liverpool.ac.uk>
Date: Aug 6, 2004

On 5 Aug 2004, ProMED carried a report (reference below) of the
isolation of Jamestown Canyon (JC) virus in Clinton County, NY, and
made reference to unnamed _Aedes_ mosquitoes as being the vectors.

In 2000 the subgenus _Ochlerotatus_ in the genus _Aedes_ was raised to
generic rank. This means that many mosquitoes in the genus _Aedes_
(including quite a few disease vectors) are now in the genus
_Ochlerotatus_
(see ref. 1 below). Although some _Aedes_ mosquitoes transmit JC virus,
most are now in the genus _Ochlerotatus_, and I suspect that the
_Aedes_ vectors mentioned in the ProMED post may actually refer to
_Ochlerotatus_
species. (For those wishing to read about the controversy generated by
raising _Ochlerotatus_ to generic status, see refs 2 and 3 below).

I understand that _Ochlerotatus provocans_ is a vector of JC virus in
New York State. The larval habitats of this species consist primarily
of ground pools, roadside ditches, and pools at the edge of marshy
areas. Another vector is _Oc. triseriatus_, a species that breeds in
water-filled tree holes, and this may be the mosquito that is referred
to in the ProMED post as an _Aedes_ breeding in "standing water found
in tree stumps and wooded areas".

It would be interesting to learn the actual vectors involved in the
transmission of JC virus in Clinton County.

A good account of most aspects of Jamestown Canyon virus can be found
in ref. 4 below.

1: Reinert JF. New classification for the composite genus Aedes
(Diptera:
Culicidae: Aedini), elevation of subgenus Ochlerotatus to generic rank,
reclassification of the other subgenera, and notes on certain subgenera
and
species. J Am Mosq Control Assoc. 2000 Sep;16(3):175-88.

2: Savage HM, Strickman D. The genus and subgenus categories within
Culicidae and placement of Ochlerotatus as a subgenus of Aedes. J Am
Mosq
Control Assoc. 2004 Jun;20(2):208-14.

3: Black WC 4th. Learning to use Ochlerotatus is just the beginning.
J Am
Mosq Control Assoc. 2004 Jun;20(2):215-6. No abstract available.

4 Grimstad, P.R. (2001) Jamestown Canyon virus, pp. 235-239 in M.W.
Service (ed.) _The Encyclopedia of Arthropod-transmitted Infections of
Man and Domesticated Animals,_ CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK.

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Received on Fri Aug 6 13:13:12 2004