Abstract:
The goal ofthis literature review is to inform the reader on several aspects of
West Nile Virus (WNV) transmission by its mosquito vector, Culex pipiens and to
elucidate how Cx. pipiens and WNV are intertwined. The first few sections of the
literature review describe the life cycle and blood feeding behaviours ofmosquitoes so
that baseline data ofmosquito biology are established. In addition to explaining how and
why a mosquito blood feeds, the section on "Blood Meal Analysis" describes the
different methods for determining the vertebrate source of mosquito blood meals and a
brief history of these testing methods. Since this thesis looks at the feeding behaviour of
Cx. pipiens, it is important to know how to determine what they are feeding upon.
Discussion on other mosquito-borne diseases related to WNV gives a broader perspective
to the thesis, and examines other diseases that have occurred in Ontario in the past. This
is followed by background information on WNV and theories on how this virus came to
North America and how it relates to Cx. pipiens. The final sections discuss Cx. pipiens
and give background information to how this species of mosquito exists and behaves
within North America.
