West Nile virus transmission in sentinel chickens and potential mosquito vectors, Senegal River Delta, 2008-2009

Assane Gueye Fall (1) , Amadou Diaite (1) , Momar Talla Seck (1) , Jérémy Bouyer (2, 1) , Thierry Lefrancois (2) , Nathalie Vachiery (2) , Rosalie Aprelon (2) , Ousmane Faye (3) , Lassana Konate (3) , Renaud Lancelot (2)

1 ISRA - Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles [Dakar]
2 UMR CMAEE - Contrôle des maladies animales exotiques et émergentes
3 UCAD - Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar [Sénégal]

West Nile virus (WNV) is an arthropod-borne Flavivirus usually transmitted to wild birds by Culex mosquitoes. Humans and horses are susceptible to WNV but are dead-end hosts. WNV is endemic in Senegal, particularly in the Senegal River Delta. To assess transmission patterns and potential vectors, entomological and sentinel serological was done in Ross Bethio along the River Senegal. Three sentinel henhouses (also used as chicken-baited traps) were set at 100 m, 800 m, and 1,300 m from the river, the latter close to a horse-baited trap. Blood samples were taken from sentinel chickens at 2-week intervals. Seroconversions were observed in sentinel chickens in November and December. Overall, the serological incidence rate was 4.6% with 95% confidence interval (0.9; 8.4) in the sentinel chickens monitored for this study. Based on abundance pattern, Culex neavei was the most likely mosquito vector involved in WNV transmission to sentinel chickens, and a potential bridge vector between birds and mammals.

Mots clés: sentinel chicken; Senegal River Delta

Mots clés: mosquito

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Assane Gueye Fall, Amadou Diaite, Momar Talla Seck, Jérémy Bouyer, Thierry Lefrancois, et al.. West Nile virus transmission in sentinel chickens and potential mosquito vectors, Senegal River Delta, 2008-2009. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2013, 10 (10), pp.4718-4727. ⟨10.3390/ijerph10104718⟩. ⟨hal-02646626⟩