arbovírus
Published 30 October 2026, 20:39
arbovírus — a virus transmitted by the bite of an insect or a tick
A general term for a whole group of viruses: dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, West Nile fever. What they have in common is not that they are related but the way they infect people: through a bite. Captured mosquitoes are tested in the laboratory for exactly these viruses.
Where you come across it. REVIVE reports, INSA and DGS announcements on testing captured mosquitoes.
In 2025 REVIVE tested 5,261 mosquitoes and found a dangerous arbovirus once, in mosquitoes from Madeira. Insect-specific flaviviruses are counted separately in the same reports: they live only in mosquitoes and are harmless to people.