Arbovirus isolations from mosquitoes collected during 1988 in the Senegal River basin

During August and September 1988, we collected adult mosquitoes from 14 locations in the Senegal River basin to search for evidence of Rift Valley fever (RVF) viral activity one year after the 1987 outbreak, which occurred along the Senegal-Mauritania border. More than 62,000 specimens representing 18 species in seven genera were collected with carbon dioxide-baited, solid-state Army miniature light traps and sheep-baited traps. Twenty virus isolations from Culex, Aedes, and Anopheles mosquitoes were recovered from six locations: Fanaye Diery (11), Bode (four), Matam (two), Diongui (one), Ndialene (one), and Ngoui (one). Species yielding viral isolates were Anopheles pharoensis (eight), Culex tritaeniorhynchus (three), Cx. univitattus gr. (three), Cx. antennatus (two), Cx. poicillipes (two), Ae. hirsutus (one), and An. gambiae (one). Viruses were identified by complement fixation, and virus and plaque-reduction neutralization testing as Ngari (Bunyavirus, Bunyaviridae) (n = 15), Babanki (Alphavirus, Togaviridae) (n = 3), Bagaza (Flavivirus, Flaviviridae) (n = 1), and Bangui (Bunyavirus-like) (n = 1). No evidence of any RVF viral activity in the Senegal River Basin was detected in the mosquitoes tested.