Abstract：
Molecular surveillance is vital for monitoring arboviruses, often employing genus-specific quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Despite this, an overlooked chikungunya fever outbreak occurred in Yunnan province, China, in 2019 and false negatives are commonly encountered during alphaviruses screening practice, highlighting the need for improved detection methods. In this study, we developed an improved alphaviruses-specific RT-qPCR capable of detecting chikungunya virus, eastern equine encephalitis virus, western equine encephalitis virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, Sindbis virus, Mayaro virus, and Ross River virus with high sensitivity and specificity. The assay identified three chikungunya virus-positive cases out of 188 sera retrospectively. Later genetic characterization suggested that imported cases from neighboring countries may be responsible for the neglected chikungunya fever outbreak of 2019 in Yunnan. Our findings underscore the value of improved alphaviruses-specific RT-qPCR in bolstering alphaviruses surveillance and informing preventive strategies.
摘要：
分子监测对于监测虫媒病毒至关重要，通常采用属特异性定量逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）。尽管如此,云南发生了一次被忽视的基孔肯雅热疫情，中国,2019年，甲病毒筛查实践中经常遇到假阴性，强调需要改进的检测方法。在这项研究中,我们开发了一种改进的甲病毒特异性RT-qPCR，能够检测基孔肯雅病毒，东部马脑炎病毒,西方马脑炎病毒，委内瑞拉马脑炎病毒,辛德比斯病毒,Mayaro病毒,罗斯河病毒具有较高的敏感性和特异性。该测定法回顾性地从188份血清中鉴定出3例基孔肯雅病毒阳性病例。后来的遗传鉴定表明，来自邻国的输入病例可能是云南2019年被忽视的基孔肯雅热爆发的原因。我们的发现强调了改进甲病毒特异性RT-qPCR在加强甲病毒监测和告知预防策略方面的价值。
