No evidence for sylvatic cycles of chikungunya, dengue and Zika viruses in African green monkeys ( Chlorocebus aethiops

  • PDF / 1,120,485 Bytes
  • 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
  • 81 Downloads / 150 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT


Parasites & Vectors Open Access

RESEARCH

No evidence for sylvatic cycles of chikungunya, dengue and Zika viruses in African green monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus) on St. Kitts, West Indies Matthew John Valentine1*  , Brenda Ciraola1, Matthew Thomas Aliota2, Michel Vandenplas3, Silvia Marchi3, Bernard Tenebray4,5, Isabelle Leparc‑Goffart4,5, Christa Ann Gallagher6, Amy Beierschmitt3,7, Tatiana Corey8,9, Kerry McAuliffe Dore10, Xavier de Lamballerie5, Chengming Wang11, Courtney Cuin Murdock12,13,14,15,16,17 and Patrick John Kelly18

Abstract  Background:  Dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses (DENV, CHIKV and ZIKV) are transmitted in sylvatic transmission cycles between non-human primates and forest (sylvan) mosquitoes in Africa and Asia. It remains unclear if sylvatic cycles exist or could establish themselves elsewhere and contribute to the epidemiology of these diseases. The Caribbean island of St. Kitts has a large African green monkey (AGM) (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus) population and is therefore ideally suited to investigate sylvatic cycles. Methods:  We tested 858 AGM sera by ELISA and PRNT for virus-specific antibodies and collected and identified 9704 potential arbovirus vector mosquitoes. Mosquitoes were homogenized in 513 pools for testing by viral isolation in cell culture and by multiplex RT-qPCR after RNA extraction to detect the presence of DENV, CHIKV and ZIKVs. DNA was extracted from 122 visibly blood-fed individual mosquitoes and a polymorphic region of the hydroxymethylbilane synthase gene (HMBS) was amplified by PCR to determine if mosquitoes had fed on AGMs or humans. Results:  All of the AGMs were negative for DENV, CHIKV or ZIKV antibodies. However, one AGM did have evidence of an undifferentiated Flavivirus infection. Similarly, DENV, CHIKV and ZIKV were not detected in any of the mosquito pools by PCR or culture. AGMs were not the source of any of the mosquito blood meals. Conclusion:  Sylvatic cycles involving AGMs and DENV, CHIKV and ZIKV do not currently exist on St. Kitts. Keywords:  Sylvatic cycles, Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika, Arboviruses, Non-human primates, Mosquitoes, Arboviruses, Blood-meal analysis Background Chikungunya, dengue and Zika are arboviral diseases that are transmitted by the anthrophilic mosquitoes, *Correspondence: [email protected] 1 One Health Centre for Zoonoses and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, West Farm, Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

Aedes aegypti and/or Aedes albopictus in an urban transmission cycle resulting in epidemics and pandemics in tropical and subtropical regions of the world [1–3]. The aetiological chikungunya (CHIKV), dengue (DENV) and Zika viruses (ZIKV) evolved in non-human primates (NHPs) and sylvatic mosquitoes in the forests of Africa in the case of CHIKV and ZIKV, and Asia in the case of DENV [4–6]. In the forests, primatophilic forest

© The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons At