Herpesvirus saimiri: Viability in Four Species of Hematophagous Insects and Attempted Insect Transmission to Marmosets

Summary

Viability of the Herpesvirus saimiri (HVS) genome was investigated in the stablefly, Stomoxys calcitrans, the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, and the mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Anopheles quadrimaculatus. The infected donors were adult white-lipped (WL) (Saquinus fuscicollis) and cotton-topped (CT) (S. oedipus) marmosets whose blood had HVS in the genome or repressed state in most lymphocytes. By the cocultivation of the dissected gut contents or ground-up whole insects on permissive vero cells, infectious virus was demonstrated immediately and at 6 hours after ingestion in all 4 insect species, but could not be recovered at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, and 12 days post feeding. Mechanical transmission from infected to noninfected CT and WL marmosets was studied by interrupted feeding procedures, with S. calcitrans, A. a egypti, and the cone-nose bug, Rhodnius prolixus. Eight recipient marmosets were kept in Horsfall-type isolation units and observed for 8–13 months. No evidence of disease or hematologic abnormalities were found, whereas 2 positive controls needle-inoculated with whole blood from the infected donors developed disease and died at 42 and 57 days post inoculation.