A strategy for entomo-virological surveillance of yellow fever, dengue, zika, and chikungunya viruses in field-collected mosquitoes

Arboviruses transmitted by Culicidae insects are significant threats to human health, presenting dynamic transmission cycles and involving different vectors and hosts. The surveillance and characterization of the vectors involved in these cycles are crucial for understanding and preventing potential outbreaks. Therefore, we propose a strategy that we used for entomological surveillance of urban, rural, and sylvatic mosquitoes and to characterize natural infection by four major arboviruses. • Immature and adult mosquitoes were collected intra, peri and extradomicilie of urban and rural households, using different collection methodologies. • Mosquitoes were pooled or separated in head-thorax and abdomen, according to the species. • A multiplex nested RT-PCR (Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) method was used for the simultaneous detection of dengue virus (DENV), zika virus (ZIKV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and yellow fever virus (YFV). Overall, this strategy proved helpful for vectors surveillance at different ecosystems, as well as for implementing a low-cost molecular surveillance system that allows the early detection of potential outbreaks, and identify other potential vectors involved in viral transmission.