Chikungunya Virus, Southeastern France

Abstract

In September 2010, autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus was recorded in southeastern France, where the Aedes albopictus mosquito vector is present. Sequence analysis of the viral genomes of imported and autochthonous isolates indicated new features for the potential emergence and spread of the virus in Europe.

A Review of the Invasive Mosquitoes in Europe: Ecology, Public Health Risks, and Control Options

“…However, the true extent of this outbreak is said to be underestimated ). In 2010, two autochthonous CHIKV cases were also reported in France following reports of an imported case from Asia (Grandadam et al 2011). The high viral loads of clinically-ill travelers and the presence of A. albopictus likely resulted in the onward transmission of CHIKV in France, and highlights the risk of similar events occurring elsewhere in Europe (Gould et al 2010).…”

“…These eggs are oviposited above the water line, and are able to withstand desiccation and prolonged periods out of water. Containers such as tires and those containing water-dwelling plants are then exported to new geographic Rezza et al 2007), and in France in 2010 (Gould et al 2010;Grandadam et al 2011). Aedes albopictus has also been implicated as a vector of dengue virus (DENV), causing outbreaks on La Reunion Island in 1977-1978(Coulanges et al 1979), Hawaii in 2001(Effer et al 2005, on La Reunion Island again in 2004 (Pierre et al 2005), Mauritius in June 2009 (Ramchurn et al 2009), and France and Croatia during 2010(La Ruche et al 2010Gjenero-Margan et al 2011).…”

Three-way interactions between mosquito population, viral strain and temperature underlying chikungunya virus transmission potential

“…albopictus cell line) from a patient on La Reunion island in 2005 [22]. The 2010-1909 strain was isolated on Vero cells (African green monkey kidney cell line) from an autochthonous human case in southeast France in 2010 [23]. Following isolation, both strains were passaged twice on C6/36 cells and the viral stocks produced were stored at 2808C prior to their use in mosquito oral infections [19,22].…”

“…Fully engorged females were transferred to cardboard cups and maintained on 10% sucrose in climatic chambers (KB 53, Binder, Tuttlingen, Germany) set at constant temperatures of 208C + 0.18C or 288C + 0.18C, with a 16 L : 8 D cycle and 70% relative humidity. A temperature of 208C was chosen as representative of the low-temperature threshold recorded when local CHIKV transmission occurred during the Italian epidemic between June and September 2007 [21,25] and in southeast France in September 2010 (http://www.meteociel.fr) [23], whereas 288C was chosen as a typical average temperature in tropical regions and has been commonly used in CHIKV vector competence assays [19,[26][27][28][29].…”

Recent progress on chikungunya virus research

“…The Indian Ocean Islands are popular resorts, from where tourists may bring CHIKV back to their home countries to further spread the disease (Parola et al, 2006). Such imported cases have led to autochthonous outbreaks in Northern Italy in 2007 (Rezza et al, 2007), and southeast France in 2010 (Grandadam et al, 2011). Since then, focal transmission has been observed in Southern China (brought from Sri Lanka in 2008, and caused a small outbreak in 2010), Arabic peninsula, and New Caledonia in Pacific Ocean (Simon et al, 2011;Guo et al, 2014).…”