No Evidence of rVSV-Ebola Virus Vaccine Replication or Dissemination in the Sand Fly Phlebotomus papatasi

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2021 Feb 1;104(3):1093-1095. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0951.

Abstract

Following vaccination with the live attenuated, recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana serotype Ebola virus (rVSV-EBOV) vaccine, persons may exhibit a transient vaccine-associated viremia. To investigate the potential for Old World sand flies to transmit this vaccine following feeding on a viremic person, we fed laboratory-reared Phlebotomus papatasi an artificial blood meal containing 7.2 log10 plaque-forming units of rVSV-EBOV. Replication or dissemination was not detected in the body or legs of any P. papatasi collected at seven (n = 75) or 15 (n = 75) days post-feed. These results indicate a low potential for rVSV-EBOV to replicate and disseminate in P. papatasi, a species whose geographic distribution ranges from Morocco to southwest Asia and as far north as southern Europe.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood*
  • Disease Transmission, Infectious*
  • Ebola Vaccines / immunology*
  • Ebolavirus / drug effects*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / prevention & control*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / transmission*
  • Humans
  • Phlebotomus / virology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral
  • Ebola Vaccines