Date of Completion

2017

Document Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Biology

Thesis Type

Honors College, College of Arts and Science Honors

First Advisor

Samuel Scarpino

Keywords

Epidemiology, Arbovirus, Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya, Serosurvey

Abstract

The emergence and resurgence of arboviruses in recent history is challenging our scientific understanding of mosquito-borne diseases and their transmission. To better contextualize recent epidemics and gain insight into historical trends in arbovirus incidence, we conducted a literature review to identify serosurveys from Africa and Asia. We compiled all serosurvey data into a table and tested for variation in disease incidence across countries and between age categories. Our analysis showed that disease incidence was consistently higher in the >15 age category than the <15 age category and revealed significant variation in incidence across countries. In addition, the mean incidence of yellow fever virus was substantially higher than the incidences of the other diseases included in the analysis. Higher incidence in the >15 age category is likely due to the long-term persistence of antibodies in human sera, while a higher incidence of yellow fever can likely be attributed to widespread vaccine use. Characteristics of countries with high disease incidence included a tropical climate, extended rainy season, and flat terrain, and countries with low disease incidence occurred at higher elevations and/or reflected a desert climate. This analysis can hopefully reveal the conditions most important in facilitating an arbovirus outbreak, leading to targeted prevention strategies in high-risk areas. It also highlights the need for continued serosurveys as a method of documenting disease spread.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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