Arbovirus surveillance in febrile patients attending selected health facilities in Rwanda

ABSTRACT

Arthropod-borne (arbo) viruses cause emerging diseases that affect the livelihoods of people around the world. They are linked to disease outbreaks resulting in high morbidity, mortality, and economic loss. In sub-Saharan Africa, numerous arbovirus outbreaks have been documented, but the circulation and magnitude of illness caused by these viruses during inter-epidemic periods remains unknown in many regions. In Rwanda, there is limited knowledge on the presence and distribution of arboviruses. This study aimed at determining the occurrence and distribution of selected arboviruses, i.e., chikungunya virus (CHIKV), o’nyong-nyong virus (ONNV), dengue virus (DENV), West Nile virus (WNV), Zika virus (ZIKV), Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), among febrile patients visiting health centres in Rwanda. A total of 2294 dry blood spots (DBS) were collected on filter papers during August 2019 – December 2020. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed on samples in pools of ten, using both quantitative (DENV, ZIKV, RVFV) and conventional PCR (CHIKV, ONNV, WNV, CCHFV) with virus specific primers, followed by sequencing. Demographic data and clinical manifestations of illness were analysed. ONNV infection was detected in 12 of 230 pools (5.2%) and ZIKV in three pools (1.3%). The other arboviruses were not detected. All ONNV cases were found in the Rwaniro health centre, while ZIKV infection was found among patients visiting the Kirinda and Zaza health centres. There was temporal variability in ONNV infections with most cases being recorded during the long dry season, while ZIKV infection occurred during both dry and wet seasons. Patients with ONNV were older and more were females. In conclusion, ONNV and ZIKV infection were detected in acute patients and can explain some of the feverish diseases in Rwanda.

KEYWORDS:

• Tick-borne viruses
• mosquito-borne viruses
• molecular detection
• arbovirus
• Rwanda

Acknowledgments

Project San Francisco in Kigali, Rwanda, especially Dr. Karita Etienne, the country director and Bizimana Jean, the laboratory manager, and their laboratory personnel for storage of samples at -80° C for the entire period of the study and their assistance with their expertise in storage, quality control, and shipping of samples.

Richard Lindqvist for assisting us with the WNV and ZIKV qPCR protocols. Anna Överby Wernstedt for providing primers and positive controls for DENV, WNV, and ZIKV.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

ONNV sequences from this study are provided in the supplementary materials to this paper.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/20008686.2023.2289872.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the University of Rwanda and the Sweden Research Partnership, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) [grant award number 51160027–04 and 51160059-10], the Swedish Research Council (grant award number 2019-04366 and 2017-05607).