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Background: Dengue virus (DENV) and Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) are major arboviruses that are transmitted to humans by Aedes aegypti (A. aegypti) and Aedes Albopictus (A. Albopictus) mosquitoes. In absence of specific antivirals and vaccine against these two viruses, prompt diagnosis of acute infections and robust surveillance for outbreak identification remain crucial. Therefore, rapid, robust, high-throughput, accessible, and low-cost assays are essential for endemic countries. This study evaluated our recently developed multiplex RT-PCR and RT-qPCR assays to screen for DENV1-4 and CHIKV circulation in Burkina Faso., Methods and Results: This study, conducted between June to August 2023, enrolled patients with suspected arbovirus infection presenting at healthcare facilities in three Burkina Faso cities (Bobo-Dioulasso, Houndé, and Ouagadougou). Serum samples were collected and screened for DENV serotypes and CHIKV using our newly multiplex RT-PCR and RT-q PCR techniques recently developed. A total of 408 patients (age median = 33, range from 3 to 84 years) participated in this study. Of these, 13.7% (56/408) had DENV infection; DENV-1 was 32.1% (18/56) and DENV-3 was 67.9% (38/56). DENV-2, DENV-4 and CHIKV were not detected., Conclusions: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of our molecular methods for DENV detection and serotyping in Burkina Faso. The affordability of our methods makes them valuable for implementing widespread routine clinical diagnostics or arbovirus surveillance in resource-limited settings., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

The first epidemic of dengue occurred in Burkina Faso in 1925 and the most recent in 2016. However, there is little available information on the bio-ecology of the main dengue vector and the prevalence of the disease in the country. For better understanding the entomological situations of the main dengue vector Aedes aegypti during the last epidemic of dengue, a cross-sectional study was conducted in Bobo-Dioulasso from November to December 2016. The goals of this study included: i) searching for water containers, and classifying them according to their type and location (indoors or outdoors); ii) examining the containers for the presence of Aedes larvae and iii) evaluating the susceptibility to insecticides mainly used in public health. Our results showed that discarded artefacts and automobile parts filled with rain water were breeding grounds for Ae. aegypti while indoor containers were mud pots (domestic purposes). The other breeding sites were metal drums, paraffin tins and mud pots. Moreover, the adults of Ae. aegypti population from these breeding sites were resistant to organochlorines, carbamates and pyrethroids, but fully susceptible to organophosphates. Our data could provide useful information for national programmes in strategy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]