Publication Type
Journal Article
Publication Date (Issue Year)
2024
Journal Name
Viruses
Abstract
Rift Valley fever (RVF), a mosquito-borne transboundary zoonosis, was first confirmed in Rwanda’s livestock in 2012 and since then sporadic cases have been reported almost every year. In 2018, the country experienced its first large outbreak, which was followed by a second one in 2022. To determine the circulating virus lineages and their ancestral origin, two genome sequences from the 2018 outbreak, and thirty-six, forty-one, and thirty-eight sequences of small (S), medium (M), and large (L) genome segments, respectively, from the 2022 outbreak were generated. All of the samples from the 2022 outbreak were collected from slaughterhouses. Both maximum likelihood and Bayesian-based phylogenetic analyses were performed. The findings showed that RVF viruses belonging to a single lineage, C, were circulating during the two outbreaks, and shared a recent common ancestor with RVF viruses isolated in Uganda between 2016 and 2019, and were also linked to the 2006/2007 largest East Africa RVF outbreak reported in Kenya, Tanzania, and Somalia. Alongside the wild-type viruses, genetic evidence of the RVFV Clone 13 vaccine strain was found in slaughterhouse animals, demonstrating a possible occupational risk of exposure with unknown outcome for people working in meat-related industry. These results provide additional evidence of the ongoing wide spread of RVFV lineage C in Africa and emphasize the need for an effective national and international One Health-based collaborative approach in responding to RVF emergencies
Keywords
Rwanda, RVFV, outbreak, genome, sequence, phylogeny
Rsif Scholar Name
Isidore Nsengimana
Thematic Area
Food security and Agribusiness
Africa Host University (AHU)
Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania
Funding Statement
This research was supported through the graduate fellowship grant award offered by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) under RVF component of the project Boosting Uganda’s Investments in Livestock Development (BUILD), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Additional financial support was received through the Doctoral scholarship grant by the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund of the African Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering, and Technology (PASET-RSIF) awarded to Isidore Nsengimana to carry out doctoral studies at SACIDS Africa Centre of Excellence for Infectious Diseases, SACIDS Foundation for One Health, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. Dr. Samuel O. Oyola is supported by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking and its members as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant Agreement no. 101103171). We also acknowledge the contribution of the Government of Rwanda. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of the manuscript
Recommended Citation
Nsengimana, I., Juma, J., Roesel, K., Gasana, M. N., Ndayisenga, F., Muvunyi, C. M., Hakizimana, E., Hakizimana, J. N., Eastwood, G., Chengula, A. A., Bett, B., Kasanga, C. J., & Oyola, S. O. (2024). Genomic Epidemiology of Rift Valley Fever Virus Involved in the 2018 and 2022 Outbreaks in Livestock in Rwanda. Viruses, 16 (7), 1148. https://doi.org/10.3390/v16071148