Dengue fever, also known as “tropical flu,” is an infectious disease caused by the virus of the same name, transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquitoes or “tiger mosquitoes,” which develops mainly in urban and peri-urban areas. Now classified as a “re-emerging” disease, the incidence of this silent killer, sometimes confused with malaria, is currently increasing significantly in Sahel countries, particularly in Mali. EN-VIDEO HERE
Dengue is a viral disease, which, according to Dr Fousseyni KANE, Doctor/Biostatistician-Bioinformatician at the UCRC, causes headaches, muscle pain and vomiting, and can often lead to bleeding.
From August 2023 to May 2024, six districts of Bamako, the Malian capital, were affected by this epidemic, which weakens, impoverishes, and often kills. During its virulent assault, 1,422 cases were confirmed, with a mortality rate of 2.7%. To prevent any outbreak in the future, researchers at the University Clinical Research Center (UCRC) worked to understand the virus and identify transmission mechanisms to better control the epidemic. FR-VIDEO HERE
“The new sequencing techniques we have just tested are a first in Africa. This is VirCapSeq-VERT, a method that allows more than 200 virus families to be identified and read in a single sample. Using this sequencing method, we were able to read the generic virus code of approximately 23 patients in the infectious diseases department at Point G University Hospital,” said Dr KANE.
Published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, this meticulous and proven study, which provides an overview of the molecular epidemiology of the virus, enabled to identify the different subtypes of virus that were in circulation, their probable origins, but also their frequency, before proposing a prevention and control mechanism.
According to Dr. Kane, during this study, we were able to identify the type 1 virus and the type 3 virus, which were predominant. “These two viruses, which were circulating during the epidemic, probably came from neighboring countries, including Burkina Faso and Benin. Other cases came from Asia, due to the mobility. These results provide a good basis for effective epidemiological surveillance,” he said. BAMBARA-VIDEO HERE
In terms of the immune system, this infectious disease has a special feature. After an initial infection, the immune system, i.e. the body’s ability to defend itself against other types, may weaken. Once the severe form develops, the worst may happen.
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“The distinctive feature of this disease in terms of immunity is that when you develop one type, you are not necessarily immune to other types. However, if you are infected with different types, there is a high probability of developing a severe form. Genomic surveillance is very important because it allows us to discover the origin of the viruses, so that we can better target treatments,” he warns.
UCRC Communication Office
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