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Epidemiological and genomic features of chikungunya virus disease in travellers returning from Cuba, September 2025 to January 2026: a GeoSentinel analysis
- Marta Díaz-Menéndez1 , Concetta Castilletti2 , Kevin O'Laughlin3 , Oula Itani4 , Hilmir Asgeirsson5,6 , Ana Vázquez González7,8 , Francesca F. Norman9 , Cecilia Perret10 , Camilla Rothe11 , Michela Deiana2 , Simone Malagò2,12 , Victor Max Corman13 , Gabriela Equihua Martinez13 , Sami Alcedo14 , Eva Clark15 , Silvia Odolini16 , Daniel Camprubí Ferrer17,18,19 , Federico Giovanni Gobbi2,20 , Davidson H. Hamer21 , Carsten Schade Larsen22 , Claudia Beisel23 , Obinna Nnedu24 , Diana Pou Ciruelo25 , Graciela Rodriguez Sevilla26 , Fernando de la Calle-Prieto1 , Hannah Emetulu27 , Michael Libman28 , Milan Trojánek29 , Stephen D. Vaughan30 , Ralph Huits2
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations: 1 National Referral Centre for Tropical Diseases and International Health, IdiPaz, Hospital Universitario La Paz-Carlos III Madrid, CIBERINFEC, Madrid, Spain 2 Department of Infectious, Tropical Diseases and Microbiology, IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital, Negrar di Valpolicella, Italy 3 Division of Global Migration and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States 4 Institut Pasteur, Centre Médical, Centre d'Infectiologie Necker-Pasteur, Paris, France 5 Department of Infectious Diseases, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden 6 Center for Infectious Medicine, Department of Medicine Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden 7 Arboviruses and Viral Imported Diseases Laboratory, Centro Nacional de Microbiologia, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain 8 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain 9 National Referral Unit for Tropical Diseases. Infectious Diseases Department. Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, IRYCIS, CIBERINFEC, Madrid, Spain 10 School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. SENTINET: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and New Technologies for Infectious Emerging Threats, Santiago, Chile 11 Institute for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, LMU University Hospital, Munich, Germany 12 PhD National Programme in One Health Approaches to Infectious Diseases and Life Science Research, Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy 13 Institute of International Health, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Charité Center for Global Health, Berlin, Germany 14 Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium 15 Departments of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Pediatrics (Tropical Medicine), National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, Houston, United States 16 University Division of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, ASST Spedali Civili Hospital, Brescia, Italy 17 Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain 18 International Health Department, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 19 Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain 20 Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy 21 Department of Global Health, Boston University School of Public Health; Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine; Center on Emerging Infectious Disease and National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Boston University, Massachusetts, Boston, United States 22 Department of Clinical Medicin, Aarhus University; Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark 23 Division of Infectious Disease and Tropical Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany and German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), partner site Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany 24 Department of Infectious Diseases. Ochsner Medical Center, Louisiana, New Orleans, United States 25 Drassanes-Vall d'Hebron Center for International Health and Infectious Diseases PROSICS Barcelona, Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 26 Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain. 27 GeoSentinel, Georgia, Atlanta, United States 28 J.D. MacLean Centre for Tropical and Geographic Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada 29 Department of Infectious Diseases and Travel Medicine, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czechia 30 Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary, Alberta, Calgary, CanadaCorrespondence:Marta Díaz-Menéndezmarta.diaz salud.madrid.org
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Citation style for this article: Díaz-Menéndez Marta, Castilletti Concetta, O'Laughlin Kevin, Itani Oula, Asgeirsson Hilmir, Vázquez González Ana , Norman Francesca F., Perret Cecilia, Rothe Camilla, Deiana Michela, Malagò Simone, Corman Victor Max, Equihua Martinez Gabriela , Alcedo Sami, Clark Eva, Odolini Silvia, Camprubí Ferrer Daniel , Gobbi Federico Giovanni, Hamer Davidson H., Larsen Carsten Schade, Beisel Claudia, Nnedu Obinna, Pou Ciruelo Diana , Rodriguez Sevilla Graciela , de la Calle-Prieto Fernando, Emetulu Hannah, Libman Michael, Trojánek Milan, Vaughan Stephen D., Huits Ralph. Epidemiological and genomic features of chikungunya virus disease in travellers returning from Cuba, September 2025 to January 2026: a GeoSentinel analysis. Euro Surveill. 2026;31(16):pii=2600286. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2026.31.16.2600286 Received: 01 Apr 2026; Accepted: 22 Apr 2026
Abstract
During September 2025–January 2026, 111 travellers (61 female/50 male; median age: 53 years) who acquired chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in Cuba were reported to GeoSentinel. Upon return, 64.2% (70/109) were potentially viraemic. Only 8.2% (9/98) had received pre-travel consultations. The CHIKV was of East-Central-South Africa genotype, closely related to Brazilian strains. International travellers can serve as arboviral outbreak sentinels and, if viraemic, risk introducing CHIKV into areas with established Aedes spp. vectors. Their effective surveillance can trigger adequate public health responses.
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