Mosquito-Borne Diseases

Millions of deaths are caused by mosquito-borne diseases every single year. The viral diseases below share strikingly similar symptomatic profiles but result in dramatically different pathological outcomes.

Accelerating the foundational research of early diagnostic techniques is essential to preventing unnecessary deaths globally. Biorbyt’s expansive catalog of high-quality antibodies and recombinant antigens are perfectly suited for the development and optimization of highly sensitive diagnostic assays.

We offer a comprehensive range of products to enhance your research into Chikungunya, Yellow Fever, Dengue, and Zika. Below is a curated selection of our most popular disease-specific reagents.

1. Chikungunya

Viral transmission is caused directly by a bite from an infected female Aedes aegypti mosquito. The disease is seen prevalently in over 60 countries across North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Because primary symptoms are remarkably similar to other mosquito-borne diseases, clinical misdiagnosis is extremely common.

Symptoms include sudden headache, rash, fever, severe joint and muscle pain, and nausea—usually beginning within 8 days of the initial bite. More severe pathological symptoms are rare but possible. Reliable serum or plasma testing is absolutely required to detect the virus, its nucleic acid, virus-specific immunoglobulin IgM, and IgG antibodies, dependent entirely on the stage of the illness. Currently, no effective antiviral treatment is available, and a commercially available prophylactic vaccine is yet to be developed.

2. Yellow Fever

An acute haemorrhagic disease caused by a pathogenic arbovirus transmitted primarily by the Aedes and Haemogogus mosquito species. Symptoms routinely include sudden fever, muscle pain, vomiting, and extreme fatigue, but severe end-stage liver and kidney disease may rapidly develop.

Tragically, half of the individuals suffering from the severe symptomatic phase die within 10 days, as there is no effective antiviral treatment. Preventative public health measures include insect repellent and an effective live-virus vaccine. Highly prevalent in Central and South America and sub-Saharan Africa, infected mosquitoes cause rapid epidemics among dense populations of unvaccinated individuals. Early viral detection via blood tests and later-stage serological testing to detect target antibodies is possible using diagnostic ELISA kits.

3. Dengue

A dramatic, global increase in viral spread now places around 50% of the world’s entire population at direct risk. Dengue is a potentially lethal, mosquito-borne viral infection and remains a leading cause of child mortality in many Asian and South American countries.

The four known serotypes of the virus are mainly transmitted by the female Aedes aegypti mosquito. With no effective antiviral treatment available, prevention and control of the disease are entirely dependent upon vector control and fast, effective supportive medical care. Accurate diagnostic detection is achieved via early serum testing and highly sensitive IgM antibody capture using specialized ELISA kits.

4. Zika Flavivirus

Zika flavivirus infection is primarily caused by a bite from the Aedes mosquito species. The disease is highly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions across the globe, with massive case clusters recorded in Africa, North and South America, Asia, and the Pacific.

Symptoms range heavily from mild headaches, inflammation of eyelids, and fever to severe pathological outcomes such as microcephaly in infants of infected mothers and the onset of Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. Sensitive RNA NAT testing of serum and urine is possible within two weeks of the first symptoms appearing. While no effective antiviral treatment is currently available, modern clinical research is heavily focused on understanding and treating the virus's devastating neurological disorders.