Table 2. Replication of rRVF mutant viruses in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

						Dissemination rates				Transmission rates
				Infection rate1		# pos/# exposed2		# pos/# infected3		# pos/# exposed4		# pos/# disseminated5
Virus	Experiment	Bloodmeal titer6	Avg (sd) day 0 titer7	% positive (n)		% positive (n)		% positive (n)		% positive (n)		% positive (n)
rRVF-wt	1	6.9	4.2 (0.3)	–	nd8	83.9	(31)	–	nd	–	nd		nd
rRVF-wt	2	6.9	4.2 (0.1)	62.5	(32)	56.3	(32)	90.0	(20)	46.9	(32)	83.3	(18)
rRVF-ΔNSs	1	6.9	4.0 (0.2)	–	nd	34.0	(50)*	–	nd	–	nd		nd
rRVF-ΔNSs	2	8.3	5.3 (0.3)	88.9	(36)	44.4	(36)*	50.0	(32)*	33.3	(36)	75.0	(16)
rRVF-ΔNSm	1	6.9	4.1 (0.1)	11.1	(45)*	2.2	(45)*	20.0	(5)*	2.2	(45)*	100.0	(1)
rRVF-ΔNSm	2	6.2	3.3 (0.1)	0	(84)*	0	(84)*	–		0	(50)*	–
rRVF-ΔNSs-ΔNSm	2	7.0	4.0 (0.2)	0	(75)*	0	(84)*	–		0	(50)*	–

¹Number of mosquitoes containing detectable virus by plaque assay divided by number of mosquitoes exposed to infectious bloodmeal.

²D_e = number of mosquitoes with RVFV antigen in head tissues divided by number of mosquitoes exposed to infectious bloodmeal.

³D_i = number of mosquitoes with RVFV antigen in head tissues divided by number of infected mosquitoes.

⁴T_e = number of mosquitoes with positive saliva by plaque assay divided by number of mosquitoes exposed to infectious bloodmeal.

⁵T_d = number of mosquitoes with positive saliva by plaque assay divided by number of mosquitoes with disseminated infection.

⁶Titer expressed as log₁₀ PFU/mL.

⁷n = 3, titer expressed as log₁₀ PFU/ml; avg is log₁₀ geometric mean; sd is standard deviation.

⁸nd = not done.

*: value differs significantly from rRVF-wt values; see Table S2 for statistical analysis results.