Persistent neutralizing antibodies against chikungunya virus eight years after infection
4 affiliations
- 1School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China
- 2State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
- 3Bioinformatics Center of the Academy of Military Medical Science, Beijing 100850, China
- 4Department of Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, Quzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Quzhou 324000, China
Abstract
Chikungunya fever, caused by the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus (CHIKV), poses a significant global health burden, with an estimated 16.9 million infections annually. Although CHIKV infection induces neutralizing antibody responses, data on their long-term persistence remain limited. In July 2017, an imported outbreak caused by the CHIKV East/Central/South African genotype occurred in Zhejiang Province, China. To assess the longevity of neutralizing antibodies, we conducted a cross-sectional follow-up study in August 2025, approximately eight years after infection. Two laboratory-confirmed patients from the outbreak were enrolled, and serum samples were collected. Serum neutralizing antibodies were measured using both pseudovirus and authentic CHIKV neutralization assays. Remarkably robust and sustained responses were observed in both patients. The pseudovirus neutralization titers were 225,677 and 134,460, respectively, and authentic virus neutralization titers were 9,133 and 4,951, respectively—which substantially exceeded the established protective threshold of 150. As no subsequent CHIKV outbreaks were documented in this non-endemic region, these high neutralizing antibody titers indicate that durable immunity may be derived from a single infection rather than repeated boosting. These findings suggest that natural CHIKV infection can elicit neutralizing antibodies that persist at high levels for at least eight years, providing evidence to inform the development of vaccines and vaccination strategies.
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BibTeX
@article{zhu2026persistent,
title = {{Persistent neutralizing antibodies against chikungunya virus eight years after infection}},
author = {Xue-Li Zhu and Meng-Fei Wang and Meng Kong and Yi-Ming Ma and Xue-Jun Wang and Sheng Wan and Guo-Ping Cao and Rui-Rui Chen and Yi-Man Cheng and Le-Le Li and Jie Xi and Li-Ping Yang and Bing-Dong Zhan and Mai-Juan Ma},
journal = {Biosafety and health},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1016/j.bsheal.2026.07.005},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13729069},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Persistent neutralizing antibodies against chikungunya virus eight years after infection
AU - Xue-Li Zhu
AU - Meng-Fei Wang
AU - Meng Kong
AU - Yi-Ming Ma
AU - Xue-Jun Wang
AU - Sheng Wan
AU - Guo-Ping Cao
AU - Rui-Rui Chen
AU - Yi-Man Cheng
AU - Le-Le Li
AU - Jie Xi
AU - Li-Ping Yang
AU - Bing-Dong Zhan
AU - Mai-Juan Ma
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/22
JO - Biosafety and health
DO - 10.1016/j.bsheal.2026.07.005
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13729069
AB - Chikungunya fever, caused by the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus (CHIKV), poses a significant global health burden, with an estimated 16.9 million infections annually. Although CHIKV infection induces neutralizing antibody responses, data on their long-term persistence remain limited. In July 2017, an imported outbreak caused by the CHIKV East/Central/South African genotype occurred in Zhejiang Province, China. To assess the longevity of neutralizing antibodies, we conducted a cross-sectional follow-up study in August 2025, approximately eight years after infection. Two laboratory-confirmed patients from the outbreak were enrolled, and serum samples were collected. Serum neutralizing antibodies were measured using both pseudovirus and authentic CHIKV neutralization assays. Remarkably robust and sustained responses were observed in both patients. The pseudovirus neutralization titers were 225,677 and 134,460, respectively, and authentic virus neutralization titers were 9,133 and 4,951, respectively—which substantially exceeded the established protective threshold of 150. As no subsequent CHIKV outbreaks were documented in this non-endemic region, these high neutralizing antibody titers indicate that durable immunity may be derived from a single infection rather than repeated boosting. These findings suggest that natural CHIKV infection can elicit neutralizing antibodies that persist at high levels for at least eight years, providing evidence to inform the development of vaccines and vaccination strategies.
SN - 2590-0536
SN - 2096-6962
ER -