Detection of zika virus disease caused by the Asian lineage of the zika virus at Kenya's Lamu island

Objectives: We report the first confirmed cases of Zika virus (ZIKV) disease (ZVD) in Kenya and provide the associated genomic sequences. Methods: The study is part of a prospective febrile illness surveillance study in Kenya. A cluster of ZVD cases was identified in patients with fever presenting a...

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Main Authors: Gathii Kimita, John Collins, Beth Mutai, Esther Omuseni, Clement Masakhwe, Stephen Ocholla, Allan Lemtudo, George Awinda, Rachel Githii, Gerald Kellar, John Waitumbi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-05-01
Series:International Journal of Infectious Diseases
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971225000852
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author Gathii Kimita
John Collins
Beth Mutai
Esther Omuseni
Clement Masakhwe
Stephen Ocholla
Allan Lemtudo
George Awinda
Rachel Githii
Gerald Kellar
John Waitumbi
author_facet Gathii Kimita
John Collins
Beth Mutai
Esther Omuseni
Clement Masakhwe
Stephen Ocholla
Allan Lemtudo
George Awinda
Rachel Githii
Gerald Kellar
John Waitumbi
author_sort Gathii Kimita
collection DOAJ
description Objectives: We report the first confirmed cases of Zika virus (ZIKV) disease (ZVD) in Kenya and provide the associated genomic sequences. Methods: The study is part of a prospective febrile illness surveillance study in Kenya. A cluster of ZVD cases was identified in patients with fever presenting at King Fahd Referral Hospital, Lamu Island. Clinical signs resembled those caused by dengue or malaria and included fever, chills, muscle and joint pains, and headache. The Biofire Film Array Global fever panel (BioFire Diagnostics, UT, USA) identified ZIKV in three of five blood samples. RNA extracted from plasma was used for sequence library preparation and subsequent viral enrichment using the VirCapSeq-VERT probe set designed at the Center for Infection and Immunity, Columbia University. Enriched libraries were sequenced on the NextSeq 2000 (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA). Assembled genomes were classified into lineages and a spatio-temporal phylogeny inferred with Nextstrain v8.5.3. Results: Assembled genomes produced contigs covering between 3363 and 10,950 nt that mapped to the Asian lineage of ZIKV and branched with genomes from India. Mutation profiling revealed viral strains with potentially enhanced transmission and immune evasion capabilities. Conclusions: The presence of the more transmissible Asian lineage ZIKV that has previously caused large outbreaks of ZVD in the Americas raises significant public health concern.
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spelling doaj-art-cee6e67e568047adbff1dcb4b430d98e2025-08-20T02:16:27ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Infectious Diseases1201-97122025-05-0115410786210.1016/j.ijid.2025.107862Detection of zika virus disease caused by the Asian lineage of the zika virus at Kenya's Lamu islandGathii Kimita0John Collins1Beth Mutai2Esther Omuseni3Clement Masakhwe4Stephen Ocholla5Allan Lemtudo6George Awinda7Rachel Githii8Gerald Kellar9John Waitumbi10Kenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, KenyaGlobal Alliance for Preventing Pandemics, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, USAKenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, KenyaKenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, KenyaKenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, KenyaKenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, KenyaKenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, KenyaKenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, KenyaKenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, KenyaKenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, KenyaKenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research–Africa, Basic Science Laboratory, Kisumu, Kenya; Corresponding author.Objectives: We report the first confirmed cases of Zika virus (ZIKV) disease (ZVD) in Kenya and provide the associated genomic sequences. Methods: The study is part of a prospective febrile illness surveillance study in Kenya. A cluster of ZVD cases was identified in patients with fever presenting at King Fahd Referral Hospital, Lamu Island. Clinical signs resembled those caused by dengue or malaria and included fever, chills, muscle and joint pains, and headache. The Biofire Film Array Global fever panel (BioFire Diagnostics, UT, USA) identified ZIKV in three of five blood samples. RNA extracted from plasma was used for sequence library preparation and subsequent viral enrichment using the VirCapSeq-VERT probe set designed at the Center for Infection and Immunity, Columbia University. Enriched libraries were sequenced on the NextSeq 2000 (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA). Assembled genomes were classified into lineages and a spatio-temporal phylogeny inferred with Nextstrain v8.5.3. Results: Assembled genomes produced contigs covering between 3363 and 10,950 nt that mapped to the Asian lineage of ZIKV and branched with genomes from India. Mutation profiling revealed viral strains with potentially enhanced transmission and immune evasion capabilities. Conclusions: The presence of the more transmissible Asian lineage ZIKV that has previously caused large outbreaks of ZVD in the Americas raises significant public health concern.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971225000852ZikaZika virus diseaseZika virusAncestral African lineage Zika virusAsian lineage Zika virusZika forest
spellingShingle Gathii Kimita
John Collins
Beth Mutai
Esther Omuseni
Clement Masakhwe
Stephen Ocholla
Allan Lemtudo
George Awinda
Rachel Githii
Gerald Kellar
John Waitumbi
Detection of zika virus disease caused by the Asian lineage of the zika virus at Kenya's Lamu island
International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Zika
Zika virus disease
Zika virus
Ancestral African lineage Zika virus
Asian lineage Zika virus
Zika forest
title Detection of zika virus disease caused by the Asian lineage of the zika virus at Kenya's Lamu island
title_full Detection of zika virus disease caused by the Asian lineage of the zika virus at Kenya's Lamu island
title_fullStr Detection of zika virus disease caused by the Asian lineage of the zika virus at Kenya's Lamu island
title_full_unstemmed Detection of zika virus disease caused by the Asian lineage of the zika virus at Kenya's Lamu island
title_short Detection of zika virus disease caused by the Asian lineage of the zika virus at Kenya's Lamu island
title_sort detection of zika virus disease caused by the asian lineage of the zika virus at kenya s lamu island
topic Zika
Zika virus disease
Zika virus
Ancestral African lineage Zika virus
Asian lineage Zika virus
Zika forest
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971225000852
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