Invité équipe B. Canard: Coralie Valle, Emerging Viral Diseases, IHU Marseille – “Emerging risks of flaviviruses: serological assays for the detection and characterization of emerging arboviruses as a tool for Preparedness & Response”

Résumé

Geographical distribution of arthropod-borne diseases is constantly rising, increasing the pressure on global health. Over the past decades, the geographical distribution of viruses transmitted by arthropods, regrouped under the term “Arboviruses”, has expanded and is no longer restricted to remote or tropical areas. This expansion is often fuelled by new ecological niches in urban areas leading to the invasion of vectors capable of transmitting arboviruses. In Europe, the arboviruses of highest concern belong to the genus Flavivirus within the family Flaviviridae, including Zika virus (ZIKV) and Dengue virus (DENV) which are considered the most important travel related arbovirus infection. Responding to any infectious disease outbreak is challenging and requires a coordinated public health system involving clinical, epidemiological and laboratory approaches to detect pathogens and halt transmission. Timely and accurate diagnostic tools are one of the main pillars for public health and clinical responses to control the evolution of an outbreak. However, the diagnosis of arbovirus infection can be challenging due to the existence of cross-reactivity between related arbovirus. In the present talk, I will present my postdoctoral projects carried out at The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). My main subject was to develop and validate a multiplex serology assay for a specific and a sensitive detection of immune responses to important arboviruses, using recombinant proteins as antigen. This multiplex approach allows to test for a wide variety of arboviruses simultaneously, while still able to distinguishing genetically related viruses.