Naturally-acquired dengue virus infections do not reduce short-term survival of infected Aedes aegypti from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Transmission of dengue virus (DENV) from mosquito to human is dependent upon the survival of the mosquito beyond the virus extrinsic incubation period. Previous studies report conflicting results of the effects of DENV on Aedes aegypti survival. Here, we describe the effect of DENV on the short-term survival (up to 12 d) of 4,321 Ae. aegypti mosquitoes blood-fed on 150 NS1-positive dengue patients hospitalized in the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Mosquito survival was not different between cohorts that fed upon blood from which 0% of mosquitoes became DENV infected (N = 88 feeds), or 100% became infected (N = 116 feeds). Subgroup analysis also did not reveal serotype-dependent differences in survival, nor a relationship between survival and human plasma viremia levels. These results suggest that DENV infection adds minimal cost to Ae. aegypti, an important finding when parameterizing the vector competence of this mosquito.