Surveillance of St. Louis encephalitis virus vectors in Grand Junction, Colorado, in 1987

Grand Junction, Colorado, was the site of a St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) outbreak in 1985. Epidemiologic and ecologic investigations in 1985 and 1986 suggested that Culex tarsalis may not have been the exclusive vector in the outbreak and that Cx. pipiens may have contributed to transmission as an accessory vector. A limited field study in 1987 generally confirmed observations from 1986 that Cx. pipiens was more abundant than Cx. tarsalis in late summer when SLE virus transmission normally occurs. In both years, infection rates in Cx. tarsalis were higher than in Cx. pipiens, but in 1987 the only SLE virus isolate from Cx. pipiens was obtained early in the season. Truck trap collections showed that Cx. pipiens was the principal vector species collected, comprising 86% of the total. Light trap collections underestimated the population of Cx. pipiens; gravid trap collections gave a closer approximation of the relative proportions of Cx. pipiens and Cx. tarsalis in the vector mosquito population after midsummer.