west nile virus epidemics in north america are driven by shifts in mosquito feeding behavior西尼罗河病毒在北美流行是由蚊子进食行为的变化.pdfVIP

PLoS BIOLOGY West Nile Virus Epidemics in North America Are Driven by Shifts in Mosquito Feeding Behavior 1* 2 2 3¤ 1 A. Marm Kilpatrick , Laura D. Kramer , Matthew J. Jones , Peter P. Marra , Peter Daszak 1 The Consortium for Conservation Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America, 2 Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York, United States of America, 3 Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland, United States of America West Nile virus (WNV) has caused repeated large-scale human epidemics in North America since it was first detected in 1999 and is now the dominant vector-borne disease in this continent. Understanding the factors that determine the intensity of the spillover of this zoonotic pathogen from birds to humans (via mosquitoes) is a prerequisite for predicting and preventing human epidemics. We integrated mosquito feeding behavior with data on the population dynamics and WNV epidemiology of mosquitoes, birds, and humans. We show that Culex pipiens, the dominant enzootic (bird-to-bird) and bridge (bird-to-human) vector of WNV in urbanized areas in the northeast and north-central United States, shifted its feeding preferences from birds to humans by 7-fold during late summer and early fall, coinciding with the dispersal of its preferred host (American robins, Turdus migratorius) and the rise in human WNV infections. We also show that feeding shifts in Cx. tarsalis amplify human WNV epidemics in Colorado and California and occur during periods of robin dispersal and migration. Our results provide a direct explanation for the timing and intensity of human WNV epidemics. Shif