Authors
Daniel Canul Canul, K Jacqueline Ciau-Carrillo, J Reyes Canche Pech, Cesar Cañas-Alamilla, Jesús Kú-Cachón, Ana Osorio-Medrano, Maria E Lopez-Novelo, Igrid García González, James Earnest, Daniel Limonta, Norma Pavia-Ruz, Pablo Manrique-Saide, Fabián Correa-Morales, Guadalupe Ayora Talavera, Laura Conde-Ferraez, Azael Che-Mendoza, Jorge Palacio-Vargas, Rafael Valdez-Vázquez, Julissa Guzman-Hernandez, Carlos Frederico Campelo de Albuquerque E Melo, Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, Arbovirus Co-Circulation (ARCC) Research Consortium, Tetyana I Vasylyeva, Marina Escalera-Zamudio, Miguel A Garcia-Knight, Henry Puerta-Guardo
Published in
ASM case reports. Volume 2. Issue 5. Epub Jul 21, 2026.
Abstract
In 2013, chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a re-emerging Aedes-borne virus, was introduced into the Americas. This led to synchronous epidemics across the region associated mainly with the Asian lineage, which eventually subsided. Resurgent outbreaks have been recorded since, principally in South America, largely driven by the East-Central-South-African (ECSA) lineage. In 2025, more than 300,000 CHIKV suspected cases were reported in Brazil and Cuba.
In November 2025, a healthy adult male traveling from Cuba arrived in Merida, Mexico, and shortly after presented febrile symptoms consistent with an arboviral infection. CHIKV infection was diagnosed by RT-qPCR. Though the infection was mild, the patient developed a rash on the abdomen and neck that persisted for up to a month, with further inflammation of the joints of the left leg. Phylogenetic analysis of the viral genome indicated placement within the ECSA lineage, clustering with other contemporaneous virus genomes sampled from Brazil that belong to a recently described clade II within the country, in which viral genomes from Cuba also cluster.
We identify a travel-associated ECSA lineage CHIKV case in Mexico. This viral lineage has not previously been detected in the country. This finding highlights the risk for subsequent local transmission and is consistent with reports of the presence of this lineage in Cuba. Ten years since the last CHIKV epidemic in Mexico, strengthened surveillance is required to anticipate potential local outbreaks within the region.
PMID:
42683070
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 02 Sep 2026.
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