Mosquito-borne viruses such as Zika virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus and Dengue virus present an increasing global health concern. However, in-depth knowledge of the distribution and diversity of mosquito-associated viruses and their related vectors remains limited, especially for China.
Recently, a research team led by Dr. YUAN Zhiming and Dr. XIA Han at Wuhan Institute of Virology of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Center for Biosafety Mega-science of Chinese Academy of Sciences presented the first comprehensive dataset of the distribution and diversity of these viruses and their related vectors in China (including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau). Data was drawn from peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers and thesis publications in both English and Chinese. Geographical data on mosquito-associated viruses' occurrence and related mosquito vector species was extracted, and quality-control processes employed. This dataset contains 2,428 accounts of mosquito-associated viruses' and mosquito species geo-referenced occurrences at various administrative levels in China. The prevalent mosquito-associated virus includes Japanese encephalitis virus, Dengue virus, Banna virus and Culex flavivirus, whereas the abundant mosquito vectors are Culex tritaeryohynchus, Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens pallens. This geographical dataset delivers a distribution and diversity outline of mosquito-associated viruses in China, and also applicable in various spatial and risk-assessment analysis.
The study was published in Scientific Data on October 13, PhD student Evens Atoni and ZHAO Lu at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute: Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) are the first authors; Dr. YUAN Zhiming and Dr. XIA Han are the corresponding authors. This work was supported by the Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences; and the Health Commission of Hubei Province. Evans Atoni is a PhD scholar, under the CAS‐TWAS President’s Fellowship Program.
