Alligators as West Nile Virus Amplifiers

Authors

Kaci Klenk, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Jamie Snow, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Katrina Morgan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Richard Bowen, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Michael Stephens, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Falacia Foster, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Paul Gordy, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Susan Beckett, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Nicholas Komar, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Duane Gubler, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Michael Bunning, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Date of this Version

December 2004

Comments

Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 10, No. 12, December 2004. Copyright 2004. Permission to use.

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) may be capable of transmitting West Nile virus (WNV) to other alligators. We experimentally exposed 24 juvenile alligators to WNV parenterally or orally. All became infected, and all but three sustained viremia titers >5.0 log₁₀ PFU/mL (a threshold considered infectious for Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes) for 1 to 8 days. Noninoculated tankmates also became infected. The viremia profiles and multiple routes of infection suggest alligators may play an important role in WNV transmission in areas with high population densities of juvenile alligators.