Kumar N Pradeep, P M Ajithlal, Saini Prasanta, S Aiswarya R, Suresh Abidha, Samuel Philip, R Balasubramaniam, Mathew Jessu, T Sonia, K P Amju, K H K Raju, A Veerapathiran, A Selvam, T Balaji, Kumar Ashwani
ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre, Field Station, Kottayam, Kerala, India.
ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre, Indira Nagar, Puducherry, India.
Access Microbiol. 2025 May 14;7(5). doi: 10.1099/acmi.0.000857.v4. eCollection 2025.
An outbreak of Zika fever occurred in Thiruvananthapuram City, Kerala, India, during 2021. At the request of the Kerala state health administration, we investigated the same, towards proposing requisite containment strategies for the disease outbreak. Epidemiological investigations indicated a clustering pattern of Zika fever cases with the presumed index case from a multi-speciality hospital in the city. Preliminary reports on the same had been already reported elsewhere during 2021. Further, entomological surveys carried out evinced the predominant mosquito species in the city, viz. (65.55%), (22.0%) and (12.0%) were naturally infected with Zika virus (ZIKV), the minimum infection rates being 17.9, 7.8 and 3.6, respectively. Also, trans-ovarian transmission was recorded in both and . This is the first report on the detection of ZIKV from in India. Analysis of phylogenetically informative genes of the ZIKV genome indicated the emergence of a distinct lineage of the Asian strain of virus, with five unique non-synonymous mutations, viz. 'A22T' and 'I160M' (pre-membrane) and 'D348N', 'T470A' and 'V473L' (envelope), that were involved in the outbreak. The altered gene expression pattern and evolutionary implications of these unique mutations remain to be investigated. Genetic analysis of the virus isolates from this and other investigations carried out on sporadic outbreaks of ZIKV in the country subsequently indicated that ZIKV is re-emerging as a distinct genetic lineage in India. These findings and other recent reports on ZIKV outbreaks warrant an urgent need for a systematic countrywide surveillance strategy, towards the prevention/preparedness/containment of a massive outbreak of this emerging neurovirulent arboviral disease.
2021年，印度喀拉拉邦特里凡得琅市爆发了寨卡热。应喀拉拉邦卫生行政部门的要求，我们对此进行了调查，以提出针对该疾病爆发的必要防控策略。流行病学调查显示寨卡热病例呈聚集模式，推测的首例病例来自该市的一家多专科医院。2021年期间，其他地方已经报道过相关初步报告。此外，开展的昆虫学调查表明该市主要的蚊种，即（65.55%）、（22.0%）和（12.0%）自然感染了寨卡病毒（ZIKV），最低感染率分别为17.9、7.8和3.6。此外，在和中均记录到经卵传递。这是印度首次从检测到寨卡病毒的报告。对寨卡病毒基因组系统发育信息基因的分析表明，出现了一种独特的亚洲病毒株系，有五个独特的非同义突变，即“ A22T”和“ I160M”（前膜）以及“ D348N”、“ T470A”和“ V473L”（包膜），这些突变与此次疫情有关。这些独特突变的基因表达模式改变及其进化意义仍有待研究。对此次以及该国随后对寨卡病毒散发性疫情开展的其他调查中分离出的病毒进行基因分析表明，寨卡病毒正在印度重新出现，成为一个独特的遗传谱系。这些发现以及最近关于寨卡病毒疫情的其他报告表明，迫切需要制定一项系统性的全国监测策略，以预防/防范/控制这种新兴神经致病性虫媒病毒疾病的大规模爆发。
