Stability of equine infectious anemia virus in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae), Stomoxys calcitrans (Diptera:Muscidae), and Tabanus fuscicostatus (Diptera:Tabanidae) stored at -70 degrees C.

The research article investigates the stability or resilience of the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) in three types of insects when stored at a temperature of -70 degrees C for up to nine months.

Introduction

• The research focuses on the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV), a virus that affects horses and similar species.
• The virus was injected into three types of insects: Aedes aegypti, Stomoxys calcitrans, and Tabanus fuscicostatus, and was also fed to the Aedes aegypti via artificially created blood or Eagle’s Minimum Essential Medium.

Method

• After inoculation with the virus, the insects were stored at a temperature of -70 degrees Celsius. This extremely low temperature was maintained for a period of up to nine months.
• The reason for this storage and period were to test the stability of the EIAV under these conditions.

Findings

• After the storage period, the insects were tested for the presence of EIAV.
• The results revealed that the viral tissue culture titers (a measure of the virus’s concentration) obtained from the stored insects were comparable to those taken from the insects at the beginning of the experiment (time 0).
• This indicates that the virus had remained stable and had not reduced or degraded over the storage period despite the extreme cold temperature.

Conclusion

• The research therefore concludes that the EIAV is highly stable, suggesting that it can survive for a substantial duration in a frozen state within these insect species.
• This conclusion has implications for the transmission and spread of the virus and points toward the resilience of EIAV.