Sylvatic Transmission of Chikungunya in Myanmar

New study highlights the importance of conducting surveillance of peri-urban primates in regions of high arbovirus transmission.

Myanmar is among the least studied but most heavily forested region in Asia, and CHIKV, ZIKV, DENV and JEV are highly endemic in humans. Scientists investigated whether Myanmar peri-urban primates, living near the largest urban city of Yangon, are exposed to arboviruses of public health concern and could be sources of spillover or recipients of spillback of human pathogenic arboviral diseases. This study, led by Dr. Tierra Smiley Evans and collaborators in Myanmar, was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.