Isolations of Cache Valley Virus From Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in New Jersey and Evaluation of Its Role as a Regional Arbovirus Vector

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Skuse), is an invasive species and a major pest problem in urban and suburban locales in New Jersey. To assess its potential role as an arbovirus vector, we sampled Ae. albopictus from two New Jersey counties over a 3-yr period and estimated the prevalence of virus infection by Vero cell culture and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays. Three virus isolates were obtained from 34,567 Þeld-collected Ae. albopictus, and all were identiÞed as Cache Valley virus by molecular methods.Ae.albopictus (N 3,138), collected in Mercer County from late July through early September 2011, also were retested for West Nile virus (WNV) by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and all were negative. These results corroborate previous Þndings showing that Ae. albopictus may occasionally acquire Cache Valley virus, a deer- associated arbovirus, in nature. In contrast, we did not detect WNV infection in Ae. albopictus despite concurrent WNV ampliÞcation in this region.