Study shows SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, not transmitted by mosquitoes

Scientific reports from nature. Credit: Kansas State University “width =” 800 “height =” 480 “/>

A new study by researchers at Kansas State University is the first to confirm that SARS-CoV-2 cannot be transmitted to people by mosquitoes.

Stephen Higgs, associate vice president for research and director of the university’s Biosecurity Research Institute, or BRI, along with colleagues from BRI and the College of Veterinary Medicine published the findings on July 17. Scientific reports from nature.

The article, “Failure of SARS-CoV-2 to Infect or Replicate in Mosquitoes: An Extreme Challenge,” details the study’s findings, which provide the first experimental research into the ability of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. -19 disease, to infect and be transmitted by mosquitoes.

“While the World Health Organization has definitively stated that mosquitoes cannot transmit the virus, our study is the first to provide conclusive data supporting the theory,” said Higgs, Peine’s biosecurity professor and distinguished university professor of medicine. diagnostic and pathobiology.

The study, which was conducted at BRI, a level 3 biosecurity facility, finally found that the virus cannot replicate in three common and widely distributed species of mosquitoes: Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus, and therefore not It can be transmitted to humans.

“I am proud of the work we are doing at K-State to learn as much as we can about this and other dangerous pathogens,” said Higgs. “This work was made possible due to BRI’s unique capabilities and dedicated institutional and BRI staff.”

Colleagues involved in the study include Yan-Jang Huang, assistant professor of research in diagnostic medicine and pathobiology; Dana Vanlandingham, professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology; Ashley Bilyeu and Haelea Sharp, research assistants in diagnostic medicine and pathobiology; and Susan Hettenbach, research assistant at BRI.

BRI researchers have completed four additional studies on COVID-19 since March, and this is the first peer-reviewed publication based on SARS-CoV-2 experiments conducted entirely in K-State.

Research at the Biosecurity Research Institute has been conducted with other animal pathogens that can be transmitted from animals to people, such as Rift Valley fever and Japanese encephalitis, as well as diseases that could devastate the United States’ food supply. Together, like African swine fever and classical swine fever. . The research was supported in part by the National Bio and Agrodefense Facility Transition Fund provided by the state of Kansas.

“We have remarkable talent and capabilities working within our research and training facilities at BRI,” said Peter Dorhout, vice president of research at K-State. “BRI is one of the critical anchoring facilities in the North Campus Corridor, serving as our growing research and development space for private sector partnerships and government agencies with K-State.”