Abstract
Emerging and re-emerging mosquito-borne viral diseases impose a significant burden on global public health. The most common mosquito-borne viruses causing recent epidemics include flaviviruses in the family Flaviviridae, including Dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and West Nile virus (WNV) and Togaviridae viruses, such as chikungunya virus (CHIKV). Several factors may have contributed to the recent re-emergence and spread of mosquito-borne viral diseases. Among these important causes are the evolution of mosquito-borne viruses and the genetic mutations that make them more adaptive and virulent, leading to widespread epidemics. RNA viruses tend to acquire genetic diversity due to error-prone RNA-dependent RNA polymerases, thus promoting high mutation rates that support adaptation to environmental changes or host immunity. In this review, we discuss recent findings on the adaptive evolution of mosquito-borne viruses and their impact on viral infectivity, pathogenicity, vector fitness, transmissibility, epidemic potential and disease emergence.
Highlights
Dengue fever is caused by a virus of the family Flaviviridae, which is spread by Aedes mosquitoes and is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions [6,7]
The Dengue virus (DENV)-3 serotype provides another compelling example of how increased viral diversity can lead to the emergence or evolution of viral clades closely related to Dengue hemorrhagic fever/Dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS)
Additional examples of viral genetic variation associated with increased arbovirus infectivity, vector fitness and transmissibility have been reported in West Nile virus
Summary
Emerging and re-emerging vector-borne diseases are major public health problems worldwide [1]. In the past few decades, several mosquito-borne viruses have emerged and re-emerged globally. Several factors may have contributed to the recent re-emergence and spread of mosquito-borne viral diseases. Possible causes of the increase in mosquitoborne viral infections are global population growth, urbanization, lack of mosquito control measures, increased air travel and declining public health [3]. Other determinants of re-emergence include transportation, environmental factors, ecological cycling of vectors, host genetics, viral evolution, human and mosquito population densities, mosquito species and vector capacity [5]. The emergence or re-emergence of mosquito-borne viral diseases often involves the evolutionary adaptation of viruses to new amplification hosts or vectors. Impact on viral infectivity, pathogenicity, vector fitness, transmissibility, epidemic potential and disease emergence
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