Mosquito-borne arboviruses in Uganda: history, transmission and burden

Abstract

Mosquito-transmitted arboviruses constitute a large proportion of emerging infectious diseases that are both a public health problem and a threat to animal populations. Many such viruses were identified in East Africa, a region where they remain important and from where new arboviruses may emerge. We set out to describe and review the relevant mosquito-borne viruses that have been identified specifically in Uganda. We focused on the discovery, burden, mode of transmission, animal hosts and clinical manifestation of those previously involved in disease outbreaks. A search for mosquito-borne arboviruses detected in Uganda was conducted using search terms ‘Arboviruses in Uganda’ and ‘Mosquitoes and Viruses in Uganda’ in PubMed and Google Scholar in 2020. Twenty-four mosquito-borne viruses from different animal hosts, humans and mosquitoes were documented. The majority of these were from family Peribunyaviridae, followed by Flaviviridae, Togaviridae, Phenuiviridae and only one each from family Rhabdoviridae and Reoviridae. Sixteen (66.7%) of the viruses were associated with febrile illnesses. Ten (41.7%) of them were first described locally in Uganda. Six of these are a public threat as they have been previously associated with disease outbreaks either within or outside Uganda. Historically, there is a high burden and endemicity of arboviruses in Uganda. Given the many diverse mosquito species known in the country, there is also a likelihood of many undescribed mosquito-borne viruses. Next generation diagnostic platforms have great potential to identify new viruses. Indeed, four novel viruses, two of which were from humans (Ntwetwe and Nyangole viruses) and two from mosquitoes (Kibale and Mburo viruses) were identified in the last decade using next generation sequencing. Given the unbiased approach of detection of viruses by this technology, its use will undoubtedly be critically important in the characterization of mosquito viromes which in turn will inform other diagnostic efforts.