Failure of dengue-2 virus antibody to interfere with the isolation of dengue-2 virus from Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

When isolating dengue virus (DEN) from mosquitoes collected in endemic areas, pools may contain both anti-dengue antibodies from freshly engorged females and virus from DEN infected females. To determine if these antibodies may interfere with virus isolation, we simulated the isolation procedure using Aedes aegypti (L.) that we infected with the 16,681 strain of dengue type 2 virus by intrathoracic inoculation. At 7 d postinfection, we allowed females to engorge on immunized or normal mouse blood. Virus in a mixture of anti-dengue-2 antibodies and dengue-2 virus became inactive after incubation at 37 degrees C for 1 h, but remained infective without incubation. Therefore, at ambient conditions antibodies would not interfere with virus isolation from field-collected Ae. aegypti from endemic areas. In addition, DEN antibodies enhanced virus replication when inoculated into Ae. aegypti, but not C6/36 cells. The mechanism for this in vitro antibody enhancement of infection remains unclear.