A Historic Report of Zika in Mozambique: Implications for Assessing Current Risk

Retrospective analysis of febrile patients reveals unnoticed epidemic of zika fever in Dielmo, Senegal, 2000

“…Elsewhere in Africa, similar prevalence of ZIKV antibodies in human populations has been reported [14,32]; in Mozambique, the prevalence was higher in adults compared to children [33].…”

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

“…Until recently southern Africa south of the Zambezi River was considered to be free of Zika [ 142 , 143 ]. However, an overlooked publication in Portuguese [ 30 ] reported on serosurveys showing that 10 of 249 (4%) persons sampled at 22 localities along the length of Mozambique tested positive for Zika neutralizing antibodies [ 29 ]. Genetic investigations revealed a distinct strain of ZIKV which has been circulating across much of Asia since at least 1951, including India (1952), Thailand (1954), the Phillippines (1953) and Indonesia (1951); it is suspected that this lineage of ZIKV was probably already present in Asia during World War 2 but misdiagnosed as the far more common dengue, there being extensive cross-reactivity between Zika antibodies and dengue virus [ 21 , 23 ].…”

“…In addition to this subset of arboviruses, there is substantial evidence by way of seroprevalence studies of a wide range of other arboviral infections which - like Zika virus in Africa historically - are circulating within immunologically-adapted indigenous African populations largely having little history of serious symptoms. These include Banzi [ 25 , 26 ], Bwamba [ 27 – 32 ], Bunyamwera [ 29 , 30 , 33 – 35 ], Germiston [ 34 , 36 ], Ilesha [ 37 ], Lumbo [ 38 ], Middelburg [ 35 ], Ndumu [ 39 , 40 ], Ngari [ 41 – 43 ], Ntaya [ 44 ], O’nyong-yong [ 45 ], Pongola [ 29 , 30 , 35 ], Rift Valley fever [ 46 , 47 ], Semliki Forest [ 35 ], Shuni [ 48 ], Simbu [ 35 ], Sindbis [ 35 , 49 ], Spondweni [ 50 , 51 ], Uganda S [ 52 ], Wesselsbron [ 29 , 30 , 34 , 35 ] and Witwatersrand viruses [ 53 ]. Given the preponderance of zoonoses of African origin that have escaped previous endemic African settings to make geographical jumps to other regions through anthropogenic processes that are likely to escalate, this paper focuses on the subset of mosquito-borne arboviral zoonoses that are already known to exist in Africa, either with potential for continuing expansion of range or of which very little is known except that they infect humans or have genetic affinities which suggest they may infect humans.…”

A survey of RNA viruses in mosquitoes from Mozambique reveals novel genetic lineages of flaviviruses and phenuiviruses, as well as frequent flavivirus-like viral DNA forms in Mansonia

“…Increasing evidence also suggest that the country may be endemic to other debilitating and lifethreatening arboviral threats including RVFV [18][19][20], DENV [2,16,21] and CHIKV [22,23]. Moreover, historical and global risk projection have suggested that the country may also be suitable for the establishment of ZIKV [24][25][26], a virus recently linked to cases of microcephaly as well as many other neurological abnormalities in newly born infants [27]. Despite increasing evidence indicating the circulation of public heath-relevant arboviruses in Mozambique, the burden of the diseases they cause remains unknown.…”