Page 19 - Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2014

© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Culex tritaeniorhynchus in Greek rice fields 17
bite man during any time of the night (Guts-
evich et al., 1974; Sirivanakarn, 1976). The lar-
vae of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus can be found in
various temporary and permanent ground
water habitats that are sunlit and contain
vegetation such as ground pools, streams,
swamps, shallow marshes, irrigation ditch-
es, rice fields, and animal hoof prints (Bram,
1967; Harbach, 1988).
Taking these data into account, the rural
area close to the Delta of Acheloos river with
almost 7,000 residents, large surface area of
rice fields and farms of cows and pigs could
be under a potential threat of JE emergence.
JE is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in
South East Asia, being endemic in India, Chi-
na, and Japan and all of South East Asia (Das,
2013). It is largely restricted to rural settings
(Self et al., 1973; Solomon et al., 2000) and
the incidence of pigs and marsh birds is cru-
cial in the etiology of JE, as the virus is car-
ried by birds and amplified by pigs (Broom
et al., 2003). The management of paddy wa-
ter strongly influences the transmission of
JE (Keiser et al., 2005). The establishment
of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in new
ecosystems outside of its current range is
difficult (van den Hurk et al., 2009). However,
with the spread of JEV into the Indian sub-
continent, other destinations served by fre-
quent routes of commerce or passenger air
travel (Africa and Europe) also could be at
risk (Weaver and Reisen, 2010).
The present record indicates also the ur-
gent need of further investigation about the
presence of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus in other re-
gions of Greece. The risk for the introduc-
tion and installation in Greece and Europe
of the diseases that this species can transmit
should be taken into consideration by the
local authorities in order to establish effec-
tive control programs against mosquitoes.
This research has been co-financed by the
European Union (European Social Fund–
ESF) and Greek national funds through the
Operational Program “Education and Lifelong
Learning” of the National Strategic Reference
Framework(NSRF)–ResearchFundingProgram:
‘Heracleitus II. Investing in knowledge society
through the European Social Fund’.
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