Chikungunya and the Tiger

The Asian Tiger mosquito and the Chikungunya virus are a scary combination. The virus was given the name ‘chikungunya’ because this word means "to become contorted" in the Kimakonde language from East Africa.  People suffering from Chikungunya fever often assume a 'contorted' position from the pain in their joints.  This is a devastating disease threatening people all over the world.  

One reason contributing to the spread of the disease around the world is that it is transmitted primarily by infected mosquitoes from two species (the Asian Tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, and the Yellow Fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti) that inhabit both tropical and temperate regions.  This means is that the mosquito vectors are established in many places around the world just waiting for a traveler carrying the Chikungunya virus to arrive and provide an blood meal laden with the virus that will be passed on to their neighbors.

The relationship between the virus and the Asian Tiger mosquito is especially worrisome.  Recent studies showed that over the last 10 years ago, the virus mutated several times and became even more efficiently transmitted by the Asian Tiger mosquito *(changes affect green and blue parts of protein shown in picture below from Tsetsarkin et al. 2011)*.  This mutated strain caused a regional epidemic among human populations inhabiting the islands of the Indian Ocean, and the switch to transmission primarily by the Asian Tiger mosquito has led to increased viral transmission in many places. 

 

The invasive habits of the Asian Tiger mosquito coupled with the efficient transmission dynamics of the mutated virus strain make for a scary combination indeed.  My research will help identify novel ways to control populations the Asian Tiger mosquito and stop this devastating duo.

See my project page here...

 https://experiment.com/projects/how-has-the-asian-... 

Relevant Literature:

Tsetsarkin et al. 2007. A Single Mutation in Chikungunya Virus Affects Vector Specificity and Epidemic Potential. PLoS Pathogens.

Tsetsarkin et al. 2011. Sequential Adaptive Mutations Enhance Efficient Vector Switching by Chikungunya Virus and Its Epidemic Emergence. PLoS Pathogens.