Susceptibility of midge and mosquito vectors to SARS-CoV-2 by natural route of infection
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Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 is a recently emerged, highly contagious virus and the cause of the current pandemic. It is a zoonotic virus, although its animal origin is not clear yet. Person-to-person transmission occurs by inhalation of infected droplets and aerosols, or by direct contact with contaminated fomites. Arthropods transmit numerous viral, parasitic, and bacterial diseases; however, the potential role of arthropods in SARS-CoV-2 transmission is not fully understood. Thus far, a few studies have demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 replication is not supported in cells from certain insect species nor in certain species of mosquitoes after intrathoracic inoculation. In this study, we expanded the work of SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility to biting insects after ingesting a SARS-CoV-2infected blood meal. Species tested included Culicoides sonorensis biting midges, as well as Culex tarsalis and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes, all known biological vectors for numerous RNA viruses. Arthropods were allowed to feed on SARS-CoV-2 spiked blood and at various time points post infection analyzed for the presence of viral RNA and infectious virus. Additionally, cell lines derived from C. sonorensis (W8a), Ae. aegypti (C6/36), Cx. quinquefasciatus (HSU), and Cx. tarsalis (CxTrR2) were tested for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility. Our results indicate that none of the biting insects, nor the insect cell lines support SARS-CoV-2 replication. We conclude, that biting insect do not pose a risk for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans or animals following a SARS-CoV-2 infected blood meal.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.29.317289: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable Adult female C. sonorensis (n=200) midges were allowed to feed on defibrinated sheep blood mixed 1:1 (v/v) with SARS-CoV-2 (2.0 x 106 Cell Line Authentication not detected. Table 2: Resources
Experimental Models: Cell Lines Sentences Resources The W8a, CxTrR2, HSU, and C6/36 cells were maintained in CuVa medium, L-15 medium (with 10% tryptose phosphate broth) and Medium 199H, respectively. C6/36suggested: NoneArthropod homogenates (100 μl) were added on to VeroE6 cells in 24 well plates and incubated at 37°C and 5% CO2 for 3 days. VeroE6suggested: JCRB Cat# …SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.29.317289: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable Adult female C. sonorensis (n=200) midges were allowed to feed on defibrinated sheep blood mixed 1:1 (v/v) with SARS-CoV-2 (2.0 x 106 Cell Line Authentication not detected. Table 2: Resources
Experimental Models: Cell Lines Sentences Resources The W8a, CxTrR2, HSU, and C6/36 cells were maintained in CuVa medium, L-15 medium (with 10% tryptose phosphate broth) and Medium 199H, respectively. C6/36suggested: NoneArthropod homogenates (100 μl) were added on to VeroE6 cells in 24 well plates and incubated at 37°C and 5% CO2 for 3 days. VeroE6suggested: JCRB Cat# JCRB1819, RRID:CVCL_YQ49)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
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