{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T20:19:51Z","timestamp":1790799591234,"version":"4.1.0"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/wellcomeopenres.16030.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,16]],"date-time":"2020-12-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1608076800000}}],"reference-count":64,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,16]],"date-time":"2020-12-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1608076800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010269","name":"Wellcome Trust","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["101285"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["101285"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010269","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["wellcomeopenresearch.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Wellcome Open Res"],"abstract":"<ns3:p>\n                    <ns3:bold>Background<\/ns3:bold>\n                    . Outbreaks of mosquito-borne arboviral diseases including dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), yellow fever virus (YFV) and chikungunya virus (CHIKV) have recently occurred in the Caribbean. The geographical range of the principal vectors responsible for transmission,\n                    <ns3:italic>Aedes (Ae.) aegypti<\/ns3:italic>\n                    and\n                    <ns3:italic>Ae<\/ns3:italic>\n                    .\n                    <ns3:italic>albopictus<\/ns3:italic>\n                    are increasing and greater mosquito surveillance is needed in the Caribbean given international tourism is so prominent. The island of Saint Lucia has seen outbreaks of DENV and CHIKV in the past five years but vector surveillance has been limited with the last studies dating back to the late 1970s. Natural disasters have changed the landscape of Saint Lucia and the island has gone through significant urbanisation.\n                  <\/ns3:p>\n                  <ns3:p>\n                    <ns3:bold>Methods<\/ns3:bold>\n                    . In this study, we conducted an entomological survey of\n                    <ns3:italic>Ae. aegypti<\/ns3:italic>\n                    and\n                    <ns3:italic>Ae. albopictus<\/ns3:italic>\n                    distribution across the island and analysed environmental parameters associated with the presence of these species in addition to screening for medically important arboviruses and other flaviviruses.\n                  <\/ns3:p>\n                  <ns3:p>\n                    <ns3:bold>Results.<\/ns3:bold>\n                    Although we collected\n                    <ns3:italic>Ae. aegypti<\/ns3:italic>\n                    across a range of sites across the island, no\n                    <ns3:italic>Ae. albopictus<\/ns3:italic>\n                    were collected despite traps being placed in diverse ecological settings. The number of\n                    <ns3:italic>Ae. aegypti<\/ns3:italic>\n                    collected was significantly associated with higher elevation, and semi-urban settings yielded female mosquito counts per trap-day that were five-fold lower than urban settings. Screening for arboviruses revealed a high prevalence of cell-fusing agent virus (CFAV).\n                  <\/ns3:p>\n                  <ns3:p>\n                    <ns3:bold>Conclusions.<\/ns3:bold>\n                    Outbreaks of arboviruses transmitted by\n                    <ns3:italic>Ae. aegypti<\/ns3:italic>\n                    and\n                    <ns3:italic>Ae. albopictus<\/ns3:italic>\n                    have a history of occurring in small tropical islands and Saint Lucia is particularly vulnerable given the limited resources available to undertake vector control and manage outbreaks. Surveillance strategies can identify risk areas for predicting future outbreaks. Further research is needed to determine the diversity of current mosquito species, investigate insect-specific viruses, as well as pathogenic arboviruses, and this should also be extended to the neighbouring smaller Caribbean islands.\n                  <\/ns3:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/wellcomeopenres.16030.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,16]],"date-time":"2020-12-16T10:51:40Z","timestamp":1608115900000},"page":"149","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/wellcomeopenres.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Detection of Cell-Fusing Agent virus across ecologically diverse populations of Aedes aegypti on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia"],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0298-2808","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Claire 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status","group":{"name":"current-referee-status","label":"Current Referee Status"}},{"value":"10.21956\/wellcomeopenres.18175.r41856, Jandouwe Villinger, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology\u00a0(icipe), Nairobi, Kenya, 05 Jan 2021, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/wellcomeopenresearch.org\/articles\/5-149\/v2#referee-response-41856","order":0,"name":"referee-response-41856","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.21956\/wellcomeopenres.17585.r40686, Marco Neira, The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus, 23 Oct 2020, version 1, 2 approved with reservations","URL":"https:\/\/wellcomeopenresearch.org\/articles\/5-149\/v1#referee-response-40686","order":1,"name":"referee-response-40686","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Thomas Walker<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 15 Dec 2020<\/i>; Response to reviewer 2  \n<b>Many thanks Marco for your thorough and thoughtful review.&nbsp; Our responses are shown below in bold.<\/b>  Major Revisions:  By comparing Table 1 with the mosquito trapping data available on the supplementary files, it would seem that most locations sampled with temporary traps were only sampled for a single day, with a single trap each, while locations sampled with permanent traps had a much higher number of trapping nights. If this was the case, the authors should address whether this style of sampling is appropriate for performing the type of statistical analysis presented in the paper. In any case, I suggest they include in Table 1 the number of trapping nights for each location.  \n<b>Yes this is correct and why we described some as temporary and others as permanent. &nbsp;We repeated our statistical analysis using a negative binomial mixed effects model (as opposed to a <\/b>\n<b>generalized linear model)<\/b>\n<b> to account for <\/b>\n<b>the potential additional random effect of trap site (repeat sampling from the permanent traps but not the temporary traps) and the results remained relatively unchanged.&nbsp; We found a statistically increased mosquito count for higher elevations and for urban (vs semi-urban) areas but no statistical association between counts and either humidity or temperature.&nbsp; As these significant associations are the same, the results of this analysis are now presented in Supplementary Table 2, <i>extended data<\/i>). <\/b>\n<b>We have also now included the trapping nights for each location in Table 1.&nbsp;<\/b>  The data shown in Figure 2 and Table 1 suggest that one of the permanent trapping sites (Soufriere Hospital) consistently produced much higher yields than any of the other sites, including those sampled with temporary traps. However, the authors don\u2019t discuss potential explanations for this phenomenon, or the ways in which this fact could (or not) create bias on their data analysis. I suggest they revise the discussion addressing these observations.  \n<b>Soufriere Hospital did indeed produce higher yields and we have added three sentences at the start of the second paragraph in the discussion to show how the trapping location had several optimal characteristics for&nbsp;<i>Ae. aegypti. <\/i><\/b>  As the authors correctly point out, the detection of flavivirus-like RNA in a mosquito could very well be the product of a transcribed cell silent agents (CSA) integrated in the insect\u2019s genome sometime in the past. While it is certainly possible that a novel, extant virus could be the source of such CSA, it is also possible that the sequences obtained by the authors represent a CSA originating from a known virus and subsequently mutated after insertion in the mosquito genome. Alternatively, the sequences could correspond to a CSA derived from an extinct virus. In any case, I think that in the absence of a full viral genome, the authors should be more careful about their claim of having identified a novel insect-specific virus.  \n<b>We agree and have modified the end of our discussion to provide a more balanced view. Additional CFAV sequences which became publicly available after the original analysis have now enabled a re-analysis to be carried out which has been incorporated into the latest version of the manuscript, with relevant areas updated. <\/b>  The \u2018Conclusions\u2019 section discusses aspects such as the spread of arboviral diseases, the limited options available for vector control, the history of Zika outbreaks (among other), which are at best tangentially related to the paper\u2019s original results. I recommend that the authors re-write this section, presenting conclusions that are actually related to their original work.  \n<b>We agree and have modified our conclusions to include some sentences on insect-specific flaviviruses.&nbsp; However, confirmation of a wide distribution of <i>Ae. aegypti<\/i> on the island of St Lucia as part of our entomology survey and screening for human arboviruses undertaken does (in our opinion) relate to the possibility for future arboviral outbreaks. <\/b>  \n<b>Minor Revisions: <\/b>  Throughout the paper, please italicize scientific names.  \n<b>We have done this.<\/b>  Introduction:  The authors state that \u201c22 countries and territories have now been identified to have autochthonous transmission\u201d, which could be interpreted as being a global tally of countries reporting Zika transmission. However, this number (a) corresponds exclusively to the Americas, and (b) represents an outdated figure. The latest figures available from the Pan- American Health Organization (available here) indicate that just within the Americas, 48 countries and territories have reported mosquito-borne Zika transmission. Considering that earlier on the paper the authors provide global data for the epidemiology of dengue, I would recommend revising this figure to reflect updated global data on Zika distribution. One potential source is the World Health Organization\u2019s Zika Epidemiology Update (available here).   \n<b>Many thanks for pointing this out and we have updated our figures based on the last available WHO update (July 2019). <\/b>  The authors state that \u201cwidespread insecticide resistance has developed in Ae. aegypti, including high pyrethroid resistance rates in South America and further north in the Caribbean\u201d. To back up this statement, the authors cite a single paper focused on resistance found on a specific location in Brazil, and one paper focusing on a location in the Caribbean. I would recommend that the authors increase the number of citations to better represent the actual spread of pyrethroid resistance in the region. Suggestions include: Fonseca-Gonzalez \n<i>et al. <\/i>(2011)1 , Rawlins SC (1998)2 , Ryan SJ \n<i>et al<\/i>. (2019)3  \n<b>Many thanks for these suggestions to better represent pyrethroid resistance and we have incorporated these references.&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/b>  Methods:  The authors should provide a clearer summary of their trapping strategy. In the current text, they state that trapping was performed using four permanent traps and four temporary traps, for what can be understood as a total of eight traps per each 24-hour period. However, mosquito trapping data available on the supplementary files suggests that on most dates only six or less traps were used.  \n<b>Yes that is correct and this was due to logistical difficulties <\/b>\n<b>accessing all sites across the island so not all trapping days had four temporary traps running synchronous with the four longer-term permanent traps.&nbsp; Our methods have now been modified for clarity. <\/b>  Please specify which taxonomic key was used to separate mosquito genera. If no specific key was used, please provide a complete list of characters used to sort specimens by genus.  \n<b>In our methods we have the following sentences: <\/b> \n<b>\u2018Trapped mosquitoes were collected, killed on ice for genera morphological identification to identify individuals belonging to the Aedes genus using basic defining characteristics including patterns of light and dark scales on the abdomen and thorax and alternating light and dark bands on the legs<\/b>\n<b>.\u2019<\/b> \n<b>We then used <\/b>\n<b>ITS1 real-time PCR assays that discriminates between <i>Ae. aegypti<\/i> and <i>Ae. albopictus<\/i>.&nbsp; <\/b>  The legend in Figure 1 makes reference to an inset showing a \u201crepresentative BG Sentinel 2 trap placed in the Des Cartier rainforest\u201d. However, the actual figure does not contain any inset showing a representative trap.  \n<b>Thank you for pointing this out \u2013 this was error from a previous figure version and we have removed this reference to the trap from the figure legend. <\/b>  Please specify what kind of primers were used for reverse-transcription reaction.  \n<b>We have added in the methods that random primers are used with the <\/b>\n<b>QuantiTect Reverse transcription Kit <\/b>  Discussion: In the first paragraph of the discussion, the sentence \u201cThe principle vector of these arboviral diseases...\u201d should be changed to \u201cThe principal vector of these arboviral diseases...\u201d.  \n<b>Thank you for spotting this error and we have amended this<\/b>","URL":"https:\/\/wellcomeopenresearch.org\/articles\/5-149\/v2#referee-comment-4462","order":2,"name":"referee-comment-4462","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.21956\/wellcomeopenres.18175.r43154, L\u00edcia Natal Fernandes, Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of S\u00e3o Paulo, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, 07 Apr 2021, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/wellcomeopenresearch.org\/articles\/5-149\/v2#referee-response-43154","order":3,"name":"referee-response-43154","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust through a Wellcome Trust\/Royal Society grant awarded to TW [101285]. CLJ and TW were supported by this grant. Supplementary funding was also provided by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Bayer Pharmaceuticals awarded to MW and LW. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.","order":4,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}