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Arboviruses
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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The term "arboviruses" (Latin Arthropoda - arthropods and English borne - transmitted) currently refers to viruses transmitted to susceptible vertebrates (including humans) through the bites of blood-sucking arthropods. The participation of a carrier in the transmission of the pathogen determines such features of arbovirus infections as seasonality associated with the life cycle of the carrier and distribution in the regions of its habitat. These viruses do not necessarily cause lethal infections in arthropods; in them, the infection can proceed asymptomatically, without causing any damage or changes. Arboviruses have a unique ability to replicate both at the body temperature of warm-blooded vertebrates and at relatively low temperatures of the external environment. Transmission of the pathogen in arthropods from generation to generation can be carried out transovarially.
Arboviruses are a non-taxonomic, collective term. Currently, there are about 400 arboviruses, mainly related to the families of togaviruses, flaviviruses, bunyaviruses, arenaviruses, reoviruses, and rhabdoviruses. About 100 of them are pathogenic for humans. Natural foci of arbovirus infections are found in all regions of the globe, but more often in tropical rain forest zones due to the abundance of warm-blooded animal species and arthropods. Only some of the arbovirus infections are found in Russia.
Diseases caused by arboviruses can manifest themselves in three clinical syndromes:
- fever of an undifferentiated type, often called "dengue-like", with or without a small-spotted rash and with a relatively mild course;
- encephalitis, often fatal;
- hemorrhagic fever, often with a severe course and fatal outcome.
This division is quite arbitrary, since the same pathogen can cause a disease with a predominance of certain symptoms and varying severity.
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