Posted by Vector and Vector-borne Disease Committee
September 25, 2022
Rebecca Trout Fryxell
Associate Professor of Medical and Veterinary Entomology, University of Tennessee
9 Sep 2022. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/la-crosse-virus-is-the-second-most-common-virus-in-the-us-spread-by-mosquitoes-and-can-cause-severe-neurological-damage-in-rare-cases-184412.
Note: This recent review describes the impact of La Cross virus (LACV) on human health east of the Mississippi where it is transmitted mostly by Aedes triseriatus and Ae. albopictus. Unlike West Nile virus this neuroinvasive virus affects children more frequently than the elderly and can result in long lasting sequellae. LACV is one of several arboviruses within the California encephalitis virus (CEV) serogroup within the family Peribunyaviridae. Although few cases have been diagnosed and surveillance programs no longer test mosquitoes for these viruses, the type virus for this group, CEV, is endemic to California where it is maintained vertically within Aedes melanimon and Ae. dorsalis populations and amplified by horizontal transmission to rabbits. Another virus within this serogroup, Jamestown Canyon virus, has been isolated from Culiseta inornata collected in California, but seems to be a human health problem mostly in the upper Midwest.