The burden of Arboviral infections is largely underestimated in Africa, particularly in North-Eastern Nigeria. A total of 200 serum samples were collected from patients exhibiting febrile illness who visited the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri for medical attention between March and April 2018. Sera were tested for Flavivirus RNA by a pan-flaviviral primer set using hemi-nested RT PCR. Twenty-six samples were positive for flaviviral RNA and sequence analysis indicated a high number of West Nile virus infections and one case of Zika virus. In-house recombinant NS1-based IgM ELISA indicated 47 % of WNV and 22 % of ZIKV infections. These data were also compared to commercially available assays for West Nile and Zika viruses. Finally, NS1 IgG ELISA was conducted for Dengue, Zika, West Nile and Usutu viruses. For serum samples detected by at least one flavivirus, 945% tested positive by NS1 IgG antibodies, while only 5.5 % of the patients were negative for all.

To conclude, there is a high prevalence rate of arbovirus infections in the region, including Zika and Usutu viruses that were not previously detected. Interestingly, the analysis was conducted using in–house tools to allow the implementation of a sustainable surveillance protocol locally.

在非洲，尤其是在尼日利亚东北部，人们大大低估了虫媒病毒感染的负担。于2018年3月至2018年4月间，从迈德古里州专科医院就诊的发热患者中收集了200份血清样品。通过半巢式RT PCR，通过泛黄病毒引物对血清进行了黄病毒RNA检测。26份样品的黄病毒RNA阳性，序列分析表明大量西尼罗河病毒感染和1例寨卡病毒病例。内部基于NS1的重组IgM ELISA表明有47％的WNV和22％的ZIKV感染。还将这些数据与西尼罗河病毒和寨卡病毒的市售检测方法进行了比较。最后，针对登革热，寨卡病毒，西尼罗河病毒和Usutu病毒进行了NS1 IgG ELISA。

总而言之，该地区的虫媒病毒感染率很高，包括以前未检测到的寨卡病毒和Usutu病毒。有趣的是，分析是使用内部工具进行的，以允许在本地实施可持续的监视协议。