Haplotypes of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus larvae detected in 18 districts of Costa Rica

Abstract

There are approximately 3,500 species of mosquitoes distributed on all continents except Antarctica. Some of these species are important since they transmit diseases (Aguirre & Navarro, 2017). Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus belong to the Culicidae family of the Diptera order and are biological vectors of more than 26 viruses, including dengue virus, chikungunya virus and Zika virus, impacting public health and posing an economic burden on hospitals, especially in tropical and subtropical regions (Cadavid et al., 2015; McKenzie et al., 2019). Approximately two-fifths of the global population are at risk of contracting dengue fever, and an estimated 500,000 people are affected by hemorrhagic disease annually, with mortality rates exceeding 20% (Guo et al., 2016; Hemme et al., 2010). The chikungunya virus can also present as hemorrhagic disease; it also causes meningoencephalitis and myocarditis (Arredondo et al., 2016), whereas Zika causes severe joint pain, Guillain–Barré syndrome and congenital anomalies such as microcephaly (Plourde & Bloch 2016).