TY - JOUR
T1 - Chikungunya Outbreak in the Republic of the Congo, 2019—Epidemiological, Virological and Entomological Findings of a South-North Multidisciplinary Taskforce Investigation
AU - Vairo, Francesco
AU - Coussoud-Mavoungou, Martin Parfait Aimè
AU - Ntoumi, Francine
AU - Castilletti, Concetta
AU - Kitembo, Lambert
AU - Haider, Najmul
AU - Carletti, Fabrizio
AU - Colavita, Francesca
AU - Gruber, Cesare E.M.
AU - Iannetta, Marco
AU - Messina, Francesco
AU - Lanini, Simone
AU - Judicaël, Biez Ulrich
AU - Giombini, Emanuela
AU - Montaldo, Chiara
AU - Portella, Chantal
AU - Diafouka-Diatela, Steve
AU - Rueca, Martina
AU - Kock, Richard
AU - Bartolini, Barbara
AU - Mboera, Leonard
AU - Munster, Vincent
AU - Fischer, Robert
AU - Seifert, Stephanie
AU - Muñoz-Fontela, César
AU - Escudero-Pérez, Beatriz
AU - Gomez-Medina, Sergio
AU - Nelson, Emily V.
AU - Tungu, Patrick Kjia
AU - Nicastri, Emanuele
AU - Puro, Vincenzo
AU - Caro, Antonino Di
AU - Capobianchi, Maria Rosaria
AU - Mikolo, Jacqueline Lydia
AU - Zumla, Alimuddin
AU - Ippolito, Giuseppe
AU - Pandora-ID-NET consortium Chikungunya Outbreak Group Taskforce
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - The Republic of Congo (RoC) declared a chikungunya (CHIK) outbreak on 9 February 2019. We conducted a ONE-Human-Animal HEALTH epidemiological, virological and entomological investigation. Methods: We collected national surveillance and epidemiological data. CHIK diagnosis was based on RT-PCR and CHIKV-specific antibodies. Full CHIKV genome sequences were obtained by Sanger and MinION approaches and Bayesian tree phylogenetic analysis was performed. Mosquito larvae and 215 adult mosquitoes were collected in different villages of Kouilou and Pointe-Noire districts and estimates of Aedes (Ae.) mosquitos’ CHIKV-infectious bites obtained. We found two new CHIKV sequences of the East/Central/South African (ECSA) lineage, clustering with the recent enzootic sub-clade 2, showing the A226V mutation. The RoC 2019 CHIKV strain has two novel mutations, E2-T126M and E2-H351N. Phylogenetic suggests a common origin from 2016 Angola strain, from which it diverged around 1989 (95% HPD 1985–1994). The infectious bite pattern was similar for 2017, 2018 and early 2019. One Ae. albopictus pool was RT-PCR positive. The 2019 RoC CHIKV strain seems to be recently introduced or be endemic in sylvatic cycle. Distinct from the contemporary Indian CHIKV isolates and in contrast to the original Central-African strains (transmitted by Ae. aegypti), it carries the A226V mutation, indicating an independent adaptive mutation in response to vector replacement (Ae. albopictus vs Ae. aegypti).
AB - The Republic of Congo (RoC) declared a chikungunya (CHIK) outbreak on 9 February 2019. We conducted a ONE-Human-Animal HEALTH epidemiological, virological and entomological investigation. Methods: We collected national surveillance and epidemiological data. CHIK diagnosis was based on RT-PCR and CHIKV-specific antibodies. Full CHIKV genome sequences were obtained by Sanger and MinION approaches and Bayesian tree phylogenetic analysis was performed. Mosquito larvae and 215 adult mosquitoes were collected in different villages of Kouilou and Pointe-Noire districts and estimates of Aedes (Ae.) mosquitos’ CHIKV-infectious bites obtained. We found two new CHIKV sequences of the East/Central/South African (ECSA) lineage, clustering with the recent enzootic sub-clade 2, showing the A226V mutation. The RoC 2019 CHIKV strain has two novel mutations, E2-T126M and E2-H351N. Phylogenetic suggests a common origin from 2016 Angola strain, from which it diverged around 1989 (95% HPD 1985–1994). The infectious bite pattern was similar for 2017, 2018 and early 2019. One Ae. albopictus pool was RT-PCR positive. The 2019 RoC CHIKV strain seems to be recently introduced or be endemic in sylvatic cycle. Distinct from the contemporary Indian CHIKV isolates and in contrast to the original Central-African strains (transmitted by Ae. aegypti), it carries the A226V mutation, indicating an independent adaptive mutation in response to vector replacement (Ae. albopictus vs Ae. aegypti).
KW - Aedes spp
KW - Arbovirus
KW - Chikungunya
KW - Mosquito
KW - ONE-HEALTH
KW - Outbreak
KW - Republic of Congo
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85090862960&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/v12091020
DO - 10.3390/v12091020
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85090862960
VL - 12
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - Viruses
JF - Viruses
SN - 1999-4915
IS - 9
M1 - 1020
ER -