Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Jan 9;11(1):29.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-017-2559-9.

Mosquito-borne arboviruses of African origin: review of key viruses and vectors

Leo Braack  1 , A Paulo Gouveia de Almeida  2   3 , Anthony J Cornel  4   5 , Robert Swanepoel  6 , Christiaan de Jager  7
Affiliations
Review

Mosquito-borne arboviruses of African origin: review of key viruses and vectors

Leo Braack et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Key aspects of 36 mosquito-borne arboviruses indigenous to Africa are summarized, including lesser or poorly-known viruses which, like Zika, may have the potential to escape current sylvatic cycling to achieve greater geographical distribution and medical importance. Major vectors are indicated as well as reservoir hosts, where known. A series of current and future risk factors is addressed. It is apparent that Africa has been the source of most of the major mosquito-borne viruses of medical importance that currently constitute serious global public health threats, but that there are several other viruses with potential for international challenge. The conclusion reached is that increased human population growth in decades ahead coupled with increased international travel and trade is likely to sustain and increase the threat of further geographical spread of current and new arboviral disease.

Keywords: Africa; Global health threats; Mosquito-borne arboviruses; Vector mosquitoes; Zoonoses.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

    1. Petersen LR, Jamieson DJ, Powers AM, Honein MA. Zika virus. N Engl J Med. 2016;374:1552–1563. - PubMed
    1. Vest KG. Zika virus: a basic overview of an emerging arboviral infection in the western hemisphere. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2016;10(5):707–712. - PubMed
    1. Zinszer K, Morrison K, Brownstein JS, Marinho F, Santos AF, Nsoesie EO. Reconstruction of Zika virus introduction in Brazil. Emerg Infect Dis. 2017;23(1):91–94. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lucey D, Gostin LD. A yellow fever epidemic: a new global health emergency? JAMA. 2016;315(24):2661–2662. - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yellow fever in Brazil. Centres for disease control and prevention; 2017. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/. Accessed Apr 2017.

MeSH terms