Leading Sri Lankan scientist Professor Neelika Malavige says Sri Lanka is experiencing a large outbreak of the Chikungunya viral disease, after almost 20 years.
In a post shared on ‘X’, Professor Malavige said that a whole-genomic sequencing using the Oxford Nanopore analysis system was carried out to identify the strain.
She further said that it has been found that the current virus was of the Indian Ocean lineage (IOL) with several unique mutations.
Further sharing a research paper, Professor Malavige revealed the following;
Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a large Chikungunya outbreak, since the end of 2024, after 16 years. We carried out whole genomic sequencing of the currently circulating Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) strain and found that it was of the Indian ocean lineage (IOL), similar to the currently circulating CHIKV strains in South Asia.
While the E:226V mutation, which has been associated with Aedes albopictus transmission efficiency, was absent in all 2025 CHIKV viral sequences, they carried the E1:K211E and E2: V264A mutations, which result in enhanced viral fitness within the Aedes aegpti mosquito.
The mutations nsP1:I167V, nsP2:I171V, nsP2:T224I, nsP3:A382I and nsp4: were detected in the non-structural protein, with the Sri Lankan 2025 CHIKV strains showing unique mutations within nsP3:T224I and nsP4: S90A.
As some of these novel mutations have not been characterized previously, it is important to find out how they affect fitness within mosquitoes, viral replication and immune evasion. (Newswire)