There is no reason to assume that Ae. albopictus is not a competent vector of Zika virus. Laboratory experiments has shown that south east Asian populations of Ae. albopictus secrete the virus in their saliva. Due to this and given the multicompetency of albopictus there is, in my opinion, no doubt that the European and North American populations will be competent as well. I do not know what temperatures the virus require to replicate within the arthropod host though, this may act as a barrier if the threshold is high.

Bruce, Just as Dr. Anders advise there is no reason to assume this fact at all . A lot has been presented in terms of reviews and theses that links Aedes albopictus to the transmission of the virus, we may not say exactly whether such levels deserves it to incriminated as competent, however, current literature have grown to demonstrate so, that indeed Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are competent vectors for Zika virus, within bound of geography zones that favor both the vector and the virus (see Hayes, 2009 and Li MI et al., 2012 ). Meanwhile, I urge you to consider the advise of Dr. Anders, that the virus survival could be driven by many factors such as temperatures, humidity etc, both endo-exogenous . This also applies to to the vector (see LUIS F. CHAVES et al. 2012) ,

Aedes albopictus indeed is generating lot of interest. In India and South East Asia Aedes albopictus driven Chikungunya has become dominant over Aedes agypti- transmitted strain of the virus. This calls for an international network of scientists working on this species.

I read a ProMED-mail report earlier this month that suggested Aedes albopictus was involved in an outbreak of ZIKV in Gabon in 2007. A paper has recently been published on this which may be of interest to you if you have not already seen it.

Zika Virus in Gabon (Central Africa) – 2007: A New Threat from Aedes albopictus? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3916288/

There are other bibliographic data as P-SJ Wong, Li MY, CS Chong, Ng LC, Tan CH (2013) Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse): A Potential Vector of Zika Virus in Singapore. PLoS NEGL Trop Dis 7 (8): e2348. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002348, http://www.plosntds.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pntd.0002348&representation=PDF where Ae albopictus susceptibility to infections is detailed enforced.

According to other experiences of a mosquito susceptibility may vary between geographical regions, but I think it is doable.

Of course, the scientists and public health persons must not ignore the competency and potentiality of aedes albop in transmission of Zika virus. Control of any mosquito species is difficult, control of aedes albo is a challenging one. lalitha kabilan

Today, nearly 2 years after I raised this questons, we have seen a major emergence of Zika virus in the Americas, so an updated discussion is in order.  Invasive mosquitoes are of real concern in the spread of arboviruses and other mosquito-borne parasites and pathogens.  This includes not only Aedes albopictus, but others such as Aedes japonicus (or Ochlerotatus japonicus) that are spreading widely in temperate zones where Aedes aegypti has not been a major threat.  I have attached here a recent review on the topic of aquatic invasive species and bioinvasions contributing to emerging infectious diseases.

Article Aquatic invasive species and emerging infectious disease thr...

the bottleneck in our knowledge on zika transmission outside of the tropics obviously is the fact that the extrinsic incubation period and particularly its thermal constraints are not clear. does anyone have information on this? are there experiments with different temperature regimes? this would be helpful when the risk of autochthonous transmission for instance during summer season in temperate regions invaded by aedes albopictus must be evaluated. we did a review on EIV of dengue and found only very few experimental data on it. experiments on EIV of chikungunya seem to be missing completely. in consequence, emerging risks in northern industrial countries during warm seasons can hardly be projected.

Article Extrinsic Incubation Period of Dengue: Knowledge, Backlog, a...

Conference Paper Climate Change and Chikungunya Transmission in Europe: A Pre...

Carl,

This is a very important element to bring into the discussion, and one that is so often overlooked or given inadequate consideration.  I frequently argue that we should pay more attention to vector populations than to pathogens.  Your points lead into that recommendation as well.  The public health communities tend to focus only on disease in humans, and as with Zika in the current situation, look only at that one disease.  It is for this reason that I am trying to point out that the same vector populations may be involved in outbreaks, emergence, or endemicity of different pathogens in different regions and under different circumstances.  Environmental temperature is certainly among the most important of such environmental factors.  Below, I've linked to a blog I just wrote that addresses some of the diverse situations currently active among various Aedes populations around the globe.

Thanks for contributing!

Bruce

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/zika-just-one-character-diabolical-cast-david-bruce-conn?trk=pulse_spock-articles

I agree with Dr. David Bruce Conn. There is a growing tendency among clinicians to sideline entomological aspects of mosquito-borne diseases. 

but there are still no or not enough experimental studies on EIP (had a typo in my answer above). in order to identify critical periods for Transmission it must be known how many days at which temperature (or even more with certain Diurnal temperature fluctuations) are needed in order to let the uptaken Virus Population grow inside of an insect that it reaches the salivary Glands. this process is crucial because otherwise Transmission does not take place after uptake. outside of regions where Transmission can take place all year, there can be regions where the vector is already present but time with appropriate temperatures does not suffice for Transmission because heat periods are too short. on the other Hand there can be certain years or Locations (heat Islands in cities) where Transmission then will be possible. the fact that Transmission was not observed until a certain date, although the vector was already present, does not say that this wont take place in the future in times of climate warming.

Thanks all for raising and fostering such a good discussion. I'll just point out that in Europe, ECDC has been quite interested in tracking the distribution of Aedes species mosquitoes, notably Ae. albopictus but also, to some extent, Ae. aegypti. A particular area of focus has been to understand the environmental suitability for these vectors, and to assess the risk of importation of viraemic travellers into Aedes-active regions in Europe.

http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/activities/diseaseprogrammes/emerging_and_vector_borne_diseases/Pages/VBORNET.aspx

Dear Jonathan,

Great comments and references.  Thanks for sending the links!  International air travel was mentioned as a significant potential mechanism of disease dissemination as early as the 1940s, long before there were transoceanic jumbo jets.  I referenced this in my ASP presidential address, "Parasites on a Shrinking Planet."  See link below.

Bruce

Article Presidential Address: Parasites on a Shrinking Planet

Vector competence is a laboratory term that does not relate to field transmission efficiency. Ae. albopictus is the most competent vector of all flaviviruses and others in laboratory studies - sometimes 200 times more competent than Ae. aegypti, BUT it is far less dangerous than aegypti because it does not prefer humans. Yes albopictus can be implicated in outbreaks but it is unlikely to be a maintenance vector.

To all question followers.  More on this in blog linked below.

Bruce

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/zika-dengue-yellow-fever-west-nile-viral-encephalitis-david-bruce?trk=pulse_spock-articles

Aedes albopictus was the primary vector in the important 2007 outbreak of Zika virus in Gabon (see attached paper below).  It was based largely on this that I predicted the movement of Zika into the Americas and Europe.  My initial warnings were made in 2014, about the time I started the discussion on ResearchGate cited above by Quirine.  Of course, Zika did reach the Americas a little more than a year later, and still could come into Europe.  Below, I've attached a review where I discussed the generalities of invasive mosquitoes, including Ae. albopictus, though I did not specifically refer to Zika in that article.  Last year, I did mention Zika specifically in a paper on infections of  international adoptees and refugees, but in that paper I did not specifically address Ae. albopictus as a vector.  In any case, Ae. albopictus is a competent and proven vector that has played a major role in actual outbreaks.  Whether it can do so in more temperate climates remains to be seen.

Best wishes,

Bruce

In response to question of Sumodon Pk:

Do we have evidences for the role of Aedes albopictus in the transmission of Zika virus? - ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Do_we_have_evidences_for_the_role_of_Aedes_albopictus_in_the_transmission_of_Zika_virus#56d34af47eddd3d1d28b4567 [accessed Feb 28, 2016].

Article Zika Virus in Gabon (Central Africa) - 2007: A New Threat fr...

Article Aquatic invasive species and emerging infectious disease thr...

Article Importation and Transmission of Parasitic and Other Infectio...

Hi David, 

Great contributions, have there been any updates on this since your last post? It seems that the focus remains on Aedes albopictus. I am just wondering what the risk is with the other observed Aedes spp. in Europe. Do we have any updates on that? I think we have to be careful here in excluding vectors to early. Many of the competence studies are either being done on lab strains (which have been in the lab for a long time) and not on recent local larval catches. Any more information on this would be highly appreciated! 

Ghada el-bassiony,

Thanks for sharing these helpful references.

Bruce

Here, I am posting a link to a 30-minute documentary on the threat of Zika Virus in the United States, Brazil, and other areas.  The show is very informative and a great teaching aid.  It was made just before we began to have local transmission of Zika in Florida.  Yet, we now know that the predictions I made during my comments on the documentary were right on target.  It has now been more than two-and-a-half years since I posted the original question in this thread, and through this and other fora predicted the incursion of Zika Virus into the Western Hemisphere and ultimately into the United States and other parts of North America.  This specific post related to the potential of Aedes albopictus to be involved in transmission in the USA and in Europe.  As recently as four months ago some health officials still doubted that the virus would become locally transmitted in the USA, though I and others warned that it certainly would happen.  Now it has happened, with numerous cases of local transmission in Miami, Florida, and one of these being carried by the infected patient to Texas.  So far, all of our predictions so far have come to pass.  Presumably the local transmission in MIami was by Aedes aegypti, but this is not certain.  What is certain is that the virus is entering the U.S. through infected persons who now reside in areas where Ae. albopictus is dominant.  So, we must continue to be vigilant, and proactive in our efforts to halt or slow the spread.  Please view the lined program.  I hope it is instructive, and as always I welcome any feedback.

Presentation Zika Virus: The Facts, the Fears and the Future (Program and...

Two years are passed since the last comment to this discussion but it could be useful to cire a recent vector competence study carried out in Italy: Di Luca M, Severini F, Toma L, Boccolini D, Romi R, Remoli ME, Sabbatucci M, Rizzo C, Venturi G, Rezza G, Fortuna C. Experimental studies of susceptibility of Italian Aedes albopictus to Zika virus. Euro Surveill. 2016;21(18):pii=30223. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.18.30223

Riccardo, thanks for this new reference. This is an important contribution, especially as Ae. albopictus continues to expand its range across Europe. I will post more soon about our work with this vector species in the southeastern U.S.