Serological Evidence of Zika Virus Circulation in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) and dengue virus (DENV) are two closely related members of the Flaviviridae family, both transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, and are among the arboviruses most at risk to human health. Burkina Faso has been facing an upsurge in DENV outbreaks since 2013. Unlike DENV, there is no serological evidence of ZIKV circulation in humans in Burkina Faso. The main objective of our study was to determine the seroprevalence of ZIKV and DENV in blood donors in Burkina Faso. A total of 501 donor samples collected in the two major cities of the country in 2020 were first tested by a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect flavivirus antibodies. Positive sera were then tested using Luminex to detect ZIKV and DENV antibodies and virus-specific microneutralization tests against ZIKV were performed. The ZIKV seroprevalence was 22.75% in the donor samples and we found seropositivity for all DENV-serotypes ranging from 19.56% for DENV-1 to 48.86% for DENV-2. Molecular analyses performed on samples from febrile patients and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes between 2019 and 2021 were negative. Our study showed the important circulation of ZIKV and DENV detected by serology although molecular evidence of the circulation of ZIKV could not be demonstrated. It is essential to strengthen existing arbovirus surveillance in Burkina Faso and more broadly in West Africa by focusing on fevers of unknown origin and integrating vector surveillance to assess the extent of ZIKV circulation and identify the circulating strain. Further studies are needed to better understand the epidemiology of this virus in order to define appropriate prevention and response methods.

Screening of Circulation of Usutu and West Nile Viruses: A One Health Approach in Humans, Domestic Animals and Mosquitoes in Burkina Faso, West Africa

“…[ 44 ]. The data for the absence of detection of other flaviviruses (DENV and ZIKV) in mosquitoes have been recently published and are thus available [ 45 ]. Moreover, virus positive mosquitoes are extremely scarce for most epidemiological situations involving arboviruses.…”

Global seroprevalence of Zika virus in asymptomatic individuals: A systematic review

“…Seroprevalence studies were conducted in 49 countries and territories, with a total of 63,864 individuals involved. These studies comprised 18 countries in Africa (including Burkina Faso [ 8 ], Cape Verde [ 9 ], Cameroon [ 10 ], Democratic Republic of the Congo [ 11 ], Ethiopia [ 12 ], Gabon [ 13 ], Ghana [ 14 ], Kenya [ 15 , 16 ], Madagascar [ 17 ], Mali [ 18 , 19 ], Nigeria [ 20 – 24 ], Republic of the Congo [ 25 ], Rwanda [ 26 ], Senegal [ 18 ], Sudan [ 27 ], Tanzania [ 28 ], The Gambia [ 18 ], and Zambia [ 29 , 30 ]); 13 countries in the Americas (Bolivia [ 1 ], Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana (see references in S2 Table ), Guatemala [ 31 ], Honduras [ 32 ], Jamaica [ 33 ], Martinique [ 34 ], Mexico [ 32 , 35 ], Nicaragua (references in S2 Table ), Peru [ 36 ], Puerto Rico [ 32 ], and Suriname [ 37 ]); 3 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean (Iran [ 38 ], Iraq [ 39 ], Saudi Arabia [ 40 ]); 3 countries in Europe (Cyprus [ 41 ], France [ 42 ] and Sweden [ 26 ]); 2 countries in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand (references in S2 Table ); and 10 countries in the Western Pacific region (China [ 43 – 45 ], Fiji […”

Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) communities in contrasting areas from the Western regions of Burkina Faso: species diversity, abundance and implication in pathogen transmission

“…Aedes aegypti is known to be the vector of several arboviruses of major public health importance, including Dengue virus (DENV), Yellow fever virus (YFV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), Zika virus (ZKV) (Table IV) [50][51][52][53]. The circulation of YFV, DENV and ZKV has been observed in Burkina Faso [37,54,55]. Despite the existence of anti-amaril vaccine, an epidemic of yellow fever occurred in the South-east of Burkina Faso in 1983.…”

“…Since, yellow fever cases still occur in the country, despite the introduction of anti-amaril vaccine in the routine Expanded Program of Immunization Since 2013, several dengue outbreak were occurred in main city, Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso of the country [54,64]. The threat of YFV and DENV, as well as other viruses transmitted by Aedes and present in the region, such as the Zika virus [55], could be increased by the settlement of Ae. albopictus, a potential vector of these arboviruses, which are expanding rapidly in Africa and are already present in some of Burkina Faso's neighbouring countries [39].…”