Publications by authors named "Sarah Hafsia"
Dengue virus (DENV) is the most prevalent mosquito-borne Flavivirus that affects humans worldwide. Aedes albopictus, which is naturally infected with the bacteria Wolbachia, is considered to be a secondary vector of DENV. However, it was responsible for a recent DENV outbreak of unprecedented magnitude in Reunion Island, a French island in the South West Indian Ocean.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The influence of on mosquito reproduction and vector competence has led to renewed interest in studying the genetic diversity of these bacteria and the phenotypes they induced in mosquito vectors. In this study, we focused on two species of , namely and , from three islands in the Comoros archipelago (in the Southwestern Indian Ocean).
Methods: Using the gene, we examined the mitochondrial genetic diversity of 879 individuals from 54 sites.
Article Synopsis
- There's been a significant rise in dengue virus (DENV) cases and deaths in the southwestern Indian Ocean, particularly on Reunion Island and Seychelles, with notable shifts in the viral strains from DENV-2 to DENV-1 between 2017 and mid-2021.
- Researchers extracted nucleic acids from blood samples of dengue-positive patients to identify DENV-1 and sequenced the genomes using advanced technology to analyze their characteristics and origins.
- The findings showed that Reunion's DENV-1 strains were closely related to a 2020 isolate from Sri Lanka and exhibited genetic mutations, while Seychelles' strains formed distinct clusters related to isolates from Bangladesh and Singapore, indicating a divergence in the genetic evolution of these outbreaks.
Article Synopsis
- The incidence of dengue cases has surged in the past two decades, particularly influenced by urbanization, with many cases going unnoticed due to asymptomatic infections.
- A 2019 dengue outbreak in La Reunion led to over 18,000 confirmed cases, and a study involving 605 participants found low rates of active infections, but a significant number showed evidence of past infections.
- Research indicated that dengue transmission was localized, with most cases occurring within 100 meters and under a week apart, and environmental factors like housing type and street cleanliness were linked to infection rates, rather than demographic characteristics.
Background: Dengue is the world's most prevalent mosquito-borne viral disease. It is endemic in many tropical and subtropical countries and represents a significant global health burden. The first reports of dengue virus (DENV) circulation in the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO) islands date back to the early 1940s; however, an increase in DENV circulation has been reported in the SWIO in recent years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDengue virus has recently reemerged in the southern Indian Ocean islands, causing outbreaks in Reunion Island and the Seychelles. In the present study, we determined the complete genome sequences of closely related clinical isolates of dengue virus type 2 circulating in the Seychelles in 2016 and Reunion Island in 2018.
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