Detection of yellow fever virus nucleic acid in infected mosquitoes by RNA:RNA in situ hybridization.

An in situ hybridization technique was developed for the strand-specific detection of yellow fever virus (YFV) RNA. An 35S-labeled, transcribed RNA probe was used to detect positive-sense polarity YFV genomic RNA in infected C6/36 (Aedes albopictus) cells, dissected mosquito tissues, and sections of plastic-embedded, YFV-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Mosquito tissues fixed in buffered Formalin retained morphological integrity. The low concentrations of probe used yielded high specific signal on infected specimens and low background signal on uninfected specimens.