Chikungunya virus and other emerging arthritogenic alphaviruses Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 07 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01177-8In this Review, Weaver and colleagues discuss the transmission cycles of arthritogenic alphaviruses, their vectors, epidemiology, transmission dynamics, evolution, pathophysiology and immune responses. They also outline strategies and countermeasures to anticipate and mitigate the impact of arthritogenic alphaviruses on human health.

New online! Chikungunya virus and other emerging arthritogenic alphaviruses

Thanks @wellcometrust.bsky.social @globalvirusnews.bsky.social

Chikungunya virus and other emerging arthritogenic alphaviruses. At @natrevmicro.nature.com we discuss the transmission dynamics, evolution, pathophysiology & countermeasures 🌎 🦟 🦠 🌡️

Read more ➡️ rdcu.be/ek1MD

I was delighted to speak at the Internacional Virtual Seminar on Arbovirus biology!.🦟🦠🧠🌡️

Thanks to Charles Calisher, @JeanCarrPaul , Holly R. Hughes, Marcio R. T. Nunes, Brandy Russell, @tilstonlunel , @MarietjieV100 , Han Xia, and Donald Smith!🙂

Oropouche virus: Genomic, virological, and ecological factors may have contributed to the unprecedented reemergence. Commented by @fnaveca @juliocroda @RogueRifter, Raimunda da Silva, Gonzalo Bello, and myself at @ScienceMagazine 🦟🧠🦠🇧🇷

science.org/content/articl…

Supported by: @GlobalVirusNews @BWFUND @wellcometrust @NIH @AgenciaFAPESP @CNPq_Oficial @UTMBGSBS @imperialcollege @usponline @unicampoficial

Thank you all researchers involved: @LeveUnicamp @marieltoncunha @estercsabino @CamilaMRomano1 @nunorfaria @shirlene_telmos @gabefabiano and many others who are not on Twitter.

Our study at @TheLancetInfDis demonstrated that 2023-24 Oropouche virus reassortant have increased virulence, fitness, and the ability to evade previous immunity generated by the previous Oropouche virus infection! 🦟🦠🇧🇷

Available:

thelancet.com/journals/lanin…

Thanks for @wellcometrust @BWFUND @NIH @CNPq_Oficial @fapergs @universityofky @ufrgsnoticias @UKYMedicine @UKyMIMG @UTMBGSBS @UTMBProvost @fiocruz

Our study at @EIDjournal investigates the molecular epidemiology of western equine encephalitis virus in South America between November 2023 and April 2024.🦟🐎🧠🇧🇷🇦🇷🇺🇾

Read:

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/30…

Institutions involved: @UKYMedicine @UTMBGSBS
@UTMBProvost @ihii_utmb @institutpasteur

This study was supported by @GlobalVirusNews
@NIH @BWFUND @wellcometrust @CREID_Network

Climate change increases chances of zoonotic disease ‘spillover’ Habitat encroachment means more opportunities for animal-to-human infection

An excellent article in the @FT by @SarahNev about how climate change increases may increase the risk of zoonotic diseases jumping from animals to humans. It was a pleasure chatting with Sarah about this!🌎🦟🦠

Read more:

ft.com/content/599c87…

We identified a novel Western equine encephalitis lineage associated with the ongoing outbreak in South America (2023-2024).

Great collaboration with @aascarpellini @Richardssalvato @GabrielWallau @jaderccardoso 🦟🦠🐎🇧🇷

x.com/Richardssalvat…

Mayaro virus found in 3.4% of febrile patients in Roraima, Brazil (2018-2021)! In our study at @EIDjournal we detected, sequenced, and isolated the Mayaro virus & confirmed genotype D.

Led by Júlia Forato and @LeveUnicamp team. 🦟🦠🇧🇷

Read:

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/30…

Join our team as a Research Associate or Postdoctoral Researcher. We work on preparedness and response for outbreaks and epidemics caused by emerging RNA viruses. Please apply, retweet, or share it. 🦠🦟🖥️📊

Apply now!

desouzalab.com/careers/

Institutions involved @universityofky @UKYMedicine @UKyMIMG @UTMBGSBS @UTMBProvost @ihii_utmb @unicampoficial @FMUSPoficial @usponline @UFPBoficial @imperialcollege @ufrnbr @ufrb @FiocruzBahia @UFRROficial @WUSTLmed

Huge thanks to those who contributed to making this journey possible! Institutions, colleagues, funding agencies, especially my mentors, Drs. Weaver, Faria, Murcia & Figueiredo! @GlobalVirusNews , @UTMBGSBS , @BWFUND & @wellcometrust 🙏✌️

I’m thrilled to announce that I am joining the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics @universityofky as Assistant Professor! My lab and I will continue to study emerging viruses and arboviruses🦠🦟

Check outcreated by @PlotMyScience

desouzalab.com

At @NatureComms, we showed the kinetics of the humoral response to homologous or heterologous COVID-19 vaccines in Syrian hamsters for up to 9 months.💉🦠🐹

Led by Rafael Machado and a great team!!! @utmbhealth @UTMB_WRCEVA

Available on:

doi.org/10.1038/s41467…

Em 10 anos no Brasil, chikungunya atingiu 60% das cidades e afetou mais as mulheres - BBC News Brasil O vírus, que também é transmitido pelo mosquito Aedes aegypti, está prestes a completar uma década de circulação pelo país. Cientistas investigaram as dinâmicas de transmissão do patógeno — e propõem medidas para contê-lo daqui em diante.

Excelente reportagem do
@andre_biernath para @bbcbrasil
sobre nosso recente estudo de 10 anos da chikungunya no Brasil! Disponível em

bbc.com/portuguese/art…

Supported by: @GlobalVirusNews @BWFUND @wellcometrust @NIH @AgenciaFAPESP @CNPq_Oficial @UTMBGSBS @imperialcollege @usponline @unicampoficial and LANCE-CE!

We are delighted to share our study "Spatiotemporal dynamics and recurrence of chikungunya virus in Brazil: an epidemiological study" now published at
@LancetMicrobe!🦟🦠🇧🇷

Available:

thelancet.com/journals/lanmi…

I am glad to be attending #TropMed2022 and meeting many new and old friends. Also, I am honored to be awarded as ASTMH Young Investigator Award - First-Tier Mention. @ASTMH @ACAV_ASTMH @GlobalVirusNews @UTMBGSBS 🦟🦠🏆

Also, super thanks for our financial support @GlobalVirusNews @BWFUND @PesquisaFapesp @AgenciaFAPESP @The_MRC @NIH @CNPq @UTMBGSBS @utmb

We found that CHIKV can cause explosive outbreaks with a higher number of cases and deaths that is compared to dengue virus. We estimated the case-fatality ratio in Ceará at ~1.3 deaths per 1,000 cases

CHIKF recurrence in Brazil was associated with viral transmission in regions and municipalities less affected in previous waves, suggesting that spatial heterogeneity of CHIKV spread and population immunity may explain the recurrence pattern in the country

Ceará State in the northeast has been the most affected, with two largest epidemic waves in 2016 and 2017, and the ongoing third wave in 2022. CHIKF disproportionally affected females.

In the first part, we described the spatial-temporal dynamics of seven CHIKV epidemic waves across Brazil between 2013 and 2022 in Brazil, which affected 59.5% (3,316 of 5,570) of the country’s municipalities.