WNV is transmitted by mosquitoes and infects both humans and animals. Symptoms can range from a mild fever to spontaneous bleeding of the skin and circulatory failure, which are often fatal.Credit: Science Photo Library/Alamy Stock Photo
New research and surveillance strategies is needed for preventing and controlling West Nile virus (WNV) and other vector-borne diseases in Africa. A recent study published in PLOS recommended that the strategies should include assessment of the current health burden from WNV, to predict future outbreaks and mitigate disease impact.
Led by researchers from Senegal and Italy the study reviewed 153 scientific papers published between 1940 and 2021. It found evidence of circulation of the virus in 28 countries in Africa such as Algeria, Botswana, Central African Republic, Egypt, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda, where it was first reported in 1937.
The team noted data gaps related to the current WNV distribution and genetic diversity, its ecology and transmission chains, including the role of different arthropods and vertebrate species as reservoirs, and the real disease burden for humans and animals on the continent.
WNV whose origin is in Africa and now present almost worldwide, is an underestimated threat to human and wildlife in Africa. According to the researchers it is difficult to quantify the annual circulation of the virus, “with only limited data available for some of the North and Sub-Saharan African countries.”
“We sought qualitative and quantitative information regarding the actual circulation of WNV in Africa to develop more accurate predictive disease risk models,” the study’s corresponding author, Annapaola Rizzoli, head of the EcoHealth lab Research and Innovation Centre of Edmund Mach Foundation in Italy said.
She explained to Nature Africa that the study took place within a framework of two international research projects on emerging zoonoses impacting human and animal health which are driven by global socio-economic and environmental changes, such as biodiversity loss and climate change.
