Sustained Low-Level Transmission of Zika and Chikungunya Viruses after Emergence in the Fiji Islands

Mike Kama (1, 2) , Maite Aubry (3) , Taina Naivalu (2, 4) , Jessica Vanhomwegen (5) , Teheipuaura Mariteragi-Helle (3) , Anita Teissier (3) , Tuterarii Paoaafaite (3) , Stéphane Hué (6) , Martin L. Hibberd (6) , Jean-Claude Manuguerra (5) , Ketan Christi (2) , Conall Watson (6) , Eric Nilles (7, 8, 9) , John Aaskov (10) , Colleen Lau (11) , Didier Musso (3, 12) , Adam Kucharski (6) , Van-Mai Cao-Lormeau (3)

1 Fiji Centre for Communicable Disease Control [Suva, Fidji]
2 USP - University of the South Pacific
3 ILM - Institut Louis Malardé [Papeete]
4 Fiji National University
5 Institut Pasteur [Paris]
6 LSHTM - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
7 OMS / WHO - Organisation Mondiale de la Santé / World Health Organization Office
8 BWH - Brigham & Women’s Hospital [Boston]
9 Harvard Humanitarian Initiative [Cambridge, Massachusetts]
10 QUT - Queensland University of Technology [Brisbane]
11 ANU - Australian National University
12 AMU - Aix Marseille Université

Zika and chikungunya viruses were first detected in Fiji in 2015. Examining surveillance and phylogenetic and serologic data, we found evidence of low-level transmission of Zika and chikungunya viruses during 2013-2017, in contrast to the major outbreaks caused by closely related virus strains in other Pacific Island countries.

Keywords: Fiji; Pacific; Zika; arboviruses; chikungunya; dengue; mosquitoborne diseases; phylogeny; seroprevalence; surveillance; vector-borne infections; viruses

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Infectious diseases

Mike Kama, Maite Aubry, Taina Naivalu, Jessica Vanhomwegen, Teheipuaura Mariteragi-Helle, et al.. Sustained Low-Level Transmission of Zika and Chikungunya Viruses after Emergence in the Fiji Islands. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2019, 25 (8), pp.1535-1538. ⟨10.3201/eid2508.180524⟩. ⟨pasteur-02916041⟩