Surveillance of the major pathogenic arboviruses of public health concern in Gabon, Central Africa: increased risk of West Nile virus and dengue virus infections

BMC Infectious Diseases

Marguerite Massinga Loembé¹  Armel V. N. Mbouna²  Emmanuel B. Bache²  Georgelin Nguema Ondo²  Rodrigue Bikangui³  Selidji T. Agnandji³  Bertrand Lell⁴  Joseph G. E. Essimengane⁵  Yuri Ushijima⁶  Haruka Abe⁶  Vahid R. Zadeh⁷  Jiro Yasuda⁸ 

[1] African Society for Laboratory Medicine, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Johannesburg, South Africa;Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné, Lambaréné, Gabon;Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné, Lambaréné, Gabon;Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany;Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné, Lambaréné, Gabon;Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany;Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné, Lambaréné, Gabon;Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku, Franceville, Gabon;Department of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan;Department of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan;Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan;Department of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan;Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan;National Research Center for the Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases (CCPID), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan;

关键词: Surveillance;    Arboviruses;    West Nile virus;    Dengue virus;    Gabon;    Africa;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12879-021-05960-9

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIncreasing arbovirus infections have been a global burden in recent decades. Many countries have experienced the periodic emergence of arbovirus diseases. However, information on the prevalence of arboviruses is largely unknown or infrequently updated because of the lack of surveillance studies, especially in Africa.MethodsA surveillance study was conducted in Gabon, Central Africa, on arboviruses, which are a major public health concern in Africa, including: West Nile virus (WNV), dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), yellow fever virus (YFV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV). Serological and molecular assays were performed to investigate past infection history and the current status of infection, using serum samples collected from healthy individuals and febrile patients, respectively.ResultsThe overall seroprevalence during 2014˗2017 was estimated to be 25.3% for WNV, 20.4% for DENV, 40.3% for ZIKV, 60.7% for YFV, 61.2% for CHIKV, and 14.3% for RVFV. No significant differences were found in the seroprevalence of any of the viruses between the male and female populations. However, a focus on the mean age in each arbovirus-seropositive individual showed a significantly younger age in WNV- and DENV-seropositive individuals than in CHIKV-seropositive individuals, indicating that WNV and DENV caused a relatively recent epidemic in the region, whereas CHIKV had actively circulated before. Of note, this indication was supported by the detection of both WNV and DENV genomes in serum samples collected from febrile patients after 2016.ConclusionsThis study revealed the recent re-emergence of WNV and DENV in Gabon as well as the latest seroprevalence state of the major arboviruses, which indicated the different potential risks of virus infections and virus-specific circulation patterns. This information will be helpful for public health organizations and will enable a rapid response towards these arbovirus infections, thereby preventing future spread in the country.

【 授权许可】

CC BY