The Institut Pasteur in French Guiana publishes the first complete genome sequence of the Zika virus circulating in the Americas in The Lancet

Having confirmed the first cases of infection in Suriname then in French Guiana, the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana has sequenced the complete genome of the Zika virus, which is responsible for an unprecedented epidemic currently sweeping through the tropical regions of the Americas. Published in The Lancet medical journal today, the analysis of this sequence shows almost complete homology with the strains responsible for the epidemic that occurred in the Pacific in 2013 and 2014.

Last November, following a request by colleagues in Suriname, the team from the Virology Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana - a National Reference Center for Arboviruses for the Antilles-French Guiana region - confirmed the first five indigenous cases of infection by the Zika virus in Suriname. Researchers from the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana have just mapped the complete genome sequence of this viral strain using one of these five samples. The analysis of this genome, which features in The Lancet, shows that it belongs to the Asian lineage and presents over 99% homology with the strain responsible for the epidemic in French Polynesia in 2013. "Until now few complete sequences of this virus and none of the strains currently circulating in South and Central America were available. This complete sequence of the virus is a major starting point for shedding light on how its behavior develops", points out Dominique Rousset, Head of the Virology Laboratory and National Reference Center for Arboviruses at the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana.

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