First isolation of the Sindbis virus in mosquitoes from southwestern Spain reveals a new recent introduction from Africa.

Sindbis virus (SINV), is an of the family . This zoonotic arbovirus is transmitted by mosquitoes, primarily from the genus, with bird species acting as amplifying vertebrate hosts. Occasionally it can also affect humans that are accidental hosts.

Do specialist and generalist parasites differ in their prevalence and intensity of infection? A test of the niche breadth and trade-off hypotheses.

Studying host specificity is crucial to understanding the ability of parasites to spread to new hosts and trigger disease emergence events. The relationship between host specificity and parasite prevalence and infection intensity, has typically been studied in the context of two opposing hypotheses. According to the trade-off hypothesis generalist parasites, which can infect a broad range of hosts, will reach a lower prevalence and infection intensity than more specialist parasites due to the higher costs to adapt to multiple host immune systems.

Are the Culex pipiens biotypes pipiens, molestus and their hybrids competent vectors of avian Plasmodium?

The common house mosquito Culex pipiens s.l., widely distributed in Europe, Africa, and North America has two recognized biotypes, Cx.

Microbiota composition of Culex perexiguus mosquitoes during the West Nile virus outbreak in southern Spain.

West Nile virus (WNV) is a flavivirus naturally circulating between mosquito vectors and birds, occasionally infecting horses and humans and causing epidemiologically relevant outbreaks. In Spain, the first big WNV outbreak was recorded in 2020, resulting in 77 people infected and 8 fatalities, most of them in southern Spain. Culex perexiguus was identified as the primary vector of WNV maintaining its enzootic circulation of the virus.