Fortuna, Claudia
Montarsi, Fabrizio
Severini, Francesco
Marsili, Giulia
Toma, Luciano
Amendola, Antonello
Bertola, Michela
Michelutti, Alice
Ravagnan, Silvia
Capelli, Gioia
Rezza, Giovanni
Di Luca, Marco
,
Funding for this research was provided by:
Horizon 2020 (874735)
Article History
Received: 23 November 2020
Accepted: 1 January 2021
First Online: 22 January 2021
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: The protocol for routine blood mosquito feeding was approved by the Service for Biotechnology and Animal Welfare of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (National Institute of Health) and was authorised by the Italian Ministry of Health with Decree 222/2011-B, according to Legislative Decree 116/92, which was implemented in Italy through European Directive 86/609/EEC on laboratory animal protection. In accordance with this legislation, the presence and approval of an Ethical Committee is not required. The animals used in this study were housed and treated in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Legislative Decree 116/92 guidelines, and animal welfare was routinely checked by veterinarians from the Service for Biotechnology and Animal welfare. Rabbits, used in this study, were from the animal facility of the ISS; blood was collected from the ear vein of the rabbit according to the European legislation for the care and the use of laboratory animals. All efforts were made to minimize animal suffering. For the experiment at IZSVe, animals were not handled, and a commercial certified defibrinated sheep blood was used (Batch 19420.1). Pig intestine epithelium, used for the experimental infections, is a commercial fresh product, very common in Italy (used for making sausages); it can be found in every butcher store or supermarket. We just rinsed it with a saline solution and cut a square portion before use.
: Not applicable
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests