Asymptomatic infections in man: a Trojan horse for the introduction and spread of mosquito-borne arboviruses in non-endemic areas?
Autor(es): Chastel C
Resumo: In mosquito-borne arbovirus infections in man the asymptomatic cases are much more frequent than the symptomatic ones, but their true role in the introduction - subsequent spread of such diseases in non-endemic areas remains to be clarified. We have collected pertinent data from English - French literature from 1952 to 2010 through Pubmed - other bibliographic sources. Data were analysed to assess if viremia in asymptomatic human arbovirus infections might be sufficient to represent a true risk for introduction in non-endemic areas. During dengue - chikungunya fever outbreaks, humans are believed to be the only vertebrate hosts. Since a very large number of individuals are infected - since viremic levels are known to vary by many orders of magnitude in symptomatic patients, it is reasonable to augur that a proportion of asymptomatic cases might reach levels of viremia sufficient to infect competent mosquitoes. Moreover, in both dengue - chikungunya fever, nosocomial infections have been identified representing an alternative opportunity for virus introduction in non-endemic areas. In zoonotic mosquito-borne arbovirus infections such as Japanese encephalitis or West Nile infection, the situation is quite different since humans are considered as dead-end" hosts. However, the very large number of asymptomatic cases arising during outbreaks - the existence of newly recognised ways of contamination (blood transfusion, organ transplantation, transplacental way etc.) may also ensure their introduction - subsequent spread in new areas."
Palavras-Chave: Mosquito-borne arboviruses; Asymptomatic infection in man; Risks for introduction in non-endemic areas; Dengue; Chikungunya; Japanese encephalitis; West Nile; Rift Valley fever
Imprenta: Bulletin de la Socie?te? de Pathologie Exotique, v. 104, n. 3, p. 213-219, 2011
Identificador do objeto digital: 10.1007/s13149-011-0165-1
Descritores: Chikungunya virus - Arbovirus; Chikungunya virus - Pathogenesis; Chikungunya virus - Infectious diseases; Chikungunya virus - Inflammation; Chikungunya virus - Viral infections; Chikungunya Virus - Virus; Chikungunya virus - Transmission; Chikungunya virus - Chikungunya fever; Chikungunya virus - Dengue; Chikungunya virus - Epidemiology; Chikungunya virus - Public health
Data de publicação: 2011
