Hyperendemicity of Rift Valley Fever in Southwestern Uganda Associated With the Rapidly Evolving Lineage C Viruses

Recent Rift Valley fever (RVF) epidemiology in the eastern Africa region is characterized by widening geographic range and increasing frequency of small disease clusters. Here we conducted studies in the southwestern (SW) Uganda region that has since 2016 reported increasing RVF activities.

A 22-month long hospital-based study in 3 districts of SW Uganda targeting patients with acute febrile illness or unexplained bleeding was followed by a cross-sectional population-based human-animal survey. We then estimated RVF virus (RVFV) force of infection and yearly cases using age-structured seroprevalence data and conducted genomic phylodynamic modelling of RVFV isolates.

Overall RVF prevalence was 10.5% (205/1968) among febrile or hemorrhagic cases, including 5% (100/1968) with acute (PCR or IgM positive) infection, averaging 5 cases per month. Community-based seroprevalence of 11.8% (88/743) among humans and 14.6% (347/2383) in livestock was observed. Expected yearly human RVF cases were 314-2111 per 1369 km2 in SW Uganda, up to 3-fold higher than the 0-711 yearly cases in comparable regions of Kenya and Tanzania. Viral genomic studies identified RVFV lineage C, subclade C.2.2 as the circulating strain in SW Uganda since 2019. Lineage C strain has undergone recent rapid evolution and clonal expansion resulting in 4 subclades, C.1.1, C.1.2, C.2.1, and C.2.2, that are adept at establishing endemicity in new territories.

We demonstrate an atypical RVF hyperendemic region in SW Uganda characterized by sustained human clinical RVF cases, unusually high population prevalence, and high number of expected yearly human cases, associated in part with emergence of new RVFV sublineages.