COVID-19 Becomes Mosquito-borne: Imagining

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the single-stranded virus strain that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory illness. The arboviruses (vector-borne viruses) are all single-stranded RNA viruses similar to COVID-19, although they belong to five different viral families. Other mosquito-borne arboviruses including dengue fever, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Rift Valley Fever etc. etc. Most of these previously described as African diseases, they cause a wide range of illnesses from unrecognized infection to severe systemic disease with hemorrhagic complications and/or encephalitis with a high mortality.

Arboviruses have several unique characteristics, these include; an ability to infect and be transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks, midges, sandflies, bugs, fleas, blackflies and horseflies. They infect vertebrate hosts which may amplify the virus for invertebrate vectors that feed on infected vertebrates. They have the ability to replicate in arthropods, with little pathology and invertebrates often with significant pathology. Many arboviruses are zoonotic. A similar range of theses illnesses are seen in infected animals as well which can play a part as reservoirs!

Imagining if COVID-19 becomes vector-borne (mosquito-borne disease)!! Many parts of Africa will become endemic, threatening a lot of foreign investment (tourism etc. etc. ). Life after COVID-19 will change completely.

A lot of studies are required to investigate the potential of COVID-19 becoming vector-borne.

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