Is ZIKA Virus re-emerging as a distinct genetic lineage in India?

An outbreak of Zika fever occurred in Thiruvananthapuram City, Kerala, India during 2021. On the request of Kerala state health administration, we investigated the same, towards proposing requisite containment strategies of the disease outbreak. Epidemiological investigations indicated a clustering pattern of Zika cases with the presumed index case from a multi-speciality hospital in the city. Preliminary reports on the same had been already reported elsewhere during 2021. Further, entomological surveys carried out evinced the predominant mosquito species in the City viz., Aedes albopictus (65.55%), Aedes aegypti (22.0%) and Aedes vittatus (12.0%) were naturally infected with Zika Virus (ZIKV), the Minimum Infection Rates (MIR) being 17.9, 7.8 and 3.6 respectively. Also, the trans-ovarian transmission was recorded in Ae. albopictus. Analysis of phylogenetically informative genes of ZIKV genome indicated the emergence of a distinct lineage of the Asian strain of the virus with four unique non-synonymous mutations viz., “I22T” & “I160M” (pre-Membrane) and “D348N” & “V473L” (Envelope) was involved in the outbreak. The altered gene expression pattern and evolutionary implications of these unique mutations remain to be investigated. Genetic analysis of the virus isolates from this and other investigations carried out on sporadic outbreaks of ZIKV in the country subsequently, indicated ZIKV is reemerging as a distinct genetic lineage in India. These findings warrant the urgent need for a systematic country-wide surveillance strategy, towards the prevention/ preparedness/ containment of a massive outbreak of this emerging neurovirulent arboviral disease.