Chikungunya virus outbreak in Kerala, India, 2007: a seroprevalence study

Genetic characterization of dengue viruses prevalent in Kerala State, India

“…Kerala has an abundant Ae. albopictus population (Kumar et al, 2011), an established vector for dengue fever in Asia (De Figueiredo et al, 2010;Vasilakis et al, 2011), and restricted prevalence of Ae. aegypti in urban situations.…”

“…Ae. albopictus has been found to be abundant in the semi-forested plantation sector in Kerala (Kumar et al, 2011), and this species has been already proposed as a bridge vector of sylvatic and human cycles in Malaysia and other south Asian countries (Wang et al, 2000;Cardosa et al, 2009). Thus, spill over of sylvatic cycles to vast semi-forested regions (where Ae.…”

“…albopictus is the most predominant species) and to coastal regions in Kerala (where Ae. albopictus is prevalent) cannot be ruled out in Kerala during the summer season (with intermittent rainfalls) when the population density of this vector species is at a peak level (Kumar et al, 2011), contributing to dengue outbreaks in the state.…”

“…Recent studies have indicated invasion of Ae. albopictus, a forest species, over the entire state, which would have supported the recent widespread outbreaks of chikungunya fever in this state (Kumar et al, 2011).…”

“…Ae. albopictus, the vector of dengue fever, is abundant throughout the plantation belt of Kerala, including Kottayam District (Kumar et al, 2011). No studies on the genetic characterization of DENV N. P. Kumar and others have been carried out in this region so far.…”