The First Case of Zika Virus Disease in Guinea: Description, Virus Isolation, Sequencing, and Seroprevalence in Local Population

Viruses. 2023 Jul 25;15(8):1620. doi: 10.3390/v15081620.

Abstract

The Zika virus (ZIKV) is a widespread mosquito-borne pathogen. Phylogenetically, two lineages of ZIKV are distinguished: African and Asian-American. The latter became the cause of the 2015-2016 pandemic, with severe consequences for newborns. In West African countries, the African lineage was found, but there is evidence of the emergence of the Asian-American lineage in Cape Verde and Angola. This highlights the need to not only monitor ZIKV but also sequence the isolates. In this article, we present a case report of Zika fever in a pregnant woman from Guinea identified in 2018. Viral RNA was detected through qRT-PCR in a serum sample. In addition, the seroconversion of anti-Zika IgM and IgG antibodies was detected in repeated blood samples. Subsequently, the virus was isolated from the C6/36 cell line. The detected ZIKV belonged to the African lineage, the Nigerian sublineage. The strains with the closest sequences were isolated from mosquitoes in Senegal in 2011 and 2015. In addition, we conducted the serological screening of 116 blood samples collected from patients presenting to the hospital of Faranah with fevers during the period 2018-2021. As a result, it was found that IgM-positive patients were identified each year and that the seroprevalence varied between 5.6% and 17.1%.

Keywords: Zika virus; arbovirus; fever; flavivirus; mosquito-borne virus; seroprevalence; vector-borne virus.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Culicidae*
  • Female
  • Guinea / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin M
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Pregnancy
  • Seroepidemiologic Studies
  • Zika Virus Infection* / diagnosis
  • Zika Virus Infection* / epidemiology
  • Zika Virus* / genetics

Substances

  • Immunoglobulin M

Grants and funding

Virus isolation, sequencing, and seroprevalence were conducted within the framework of the Orders of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 14, 2020 No. 2985-r on Russian-Guinean scientific and technical cooperation in the field of epidemiology, prevention and monitoring of bacterial and viral infections in the Republic of Guinea. The analysis of amino acid substitutions in viral proteins was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (agreement No. 075-15-2021-1355 dated 12 October 2021) as a part of the implementation of certain activities of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Synchrotron and Neutron Research and Research Infrastructure for 2019–2027.