Dissertation: Insect-specific viruses as control measures for West Nile virus infection of animals and humans

Pontus Öhlund defends his thesis: Insect-specific viruses as control measures for West Nile virus infection of animals and humans.

Summary
Mosquitoes serve as vector for many medically important viruses and their associated diseases cause a major health burden across the globe. Mosquito-borne viruses are often maintained in nature through an enzootic cycle, in which the mosquito acquire the virus through a viremic blood meal of a vertebrate reservoir.

The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate the use of a group of viruses known as insect-specific viruses (ISVs) to manipulate the mosquito antiviral immunity and elucidate important antiviral mechanisms, with the ultimate goal to increase the mosquito host’s resistance to infection of medically important viruses.