Adesola, Ridwan Olamilekan, Ajibade, Favour Akinfemi, Hossain, Delower, Onoja, Anyebe Bernard, Agbaje, Sheriff Tunde, Akinsulie, Olalekan Chris, Bakre, Adetolase Azizat, Adegboye, Oyelola A., and Adamu, Andrew Musa (2025) Serological and molecular epidemiology of West Nile, Japanese encephalitis, and tick-borne encephalitis viruses in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Discover Viruses, 2. 11.

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Abstract

Flaviviruses, including West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), are significant public health threats in Africa due to their potential to cause severe neurological conditions. Despite recent outbreaks, the region has limited epidemiological and evolutionary data on these viruses. This study aimed to critically and systematically review the available literature on serological and molecular epidemiology of WNV, JEV and TBEV from 2004 to 2024 and examined the phylogenetic relatedness of the African virus strain from 1937 to 2018. PubMed and Google Scholar databases were systematically searched, and 61 articles were identified: WNV (n = 54), TBEV (n = 5), and JEV (n = 2). Using a random-effects meta-analysis model, we estimated the frequency-weighted seroprevalence WNV in humans and animals to be 17.96% (95% CI 12.50, 24.13), with a peak rate of 55% in humans (Egypt) and 93.28% in horses (Nigeria). Phylogenetic analyses of 54 WNV, one JEV, and one TBEV genomes revealed that lineage 2 WNV was implicated in most outbreaks in Africa. These findings reinforced the need to strengthen WNV, JEV, and TBEV surveillance through a One Health and host ecological lens to improve preparedness for potential outbreaks in Africa.

Item ID:	85706
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	3005-0960
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Date Deposited:	03 Jun 2025 23:06
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4202 Epidemiology > 420207 Major global burdens of disease @ 100%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200404 Disease distribution and transmission (incl. surveillance and response) @ 100%
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