Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a mosquito-borne alphavirus of increasing public health significance, has caused large epidemics in Africa and the Indian Ocean basin; now it is spreading throughout the Americas. The primary vectors of CHIKV are Aedes (Ae.) aegypti and, after the introduction of a mutation in the E1 envelope protein gene, the highly anthropophilic and geographically widespread Ae. albopictus mosquito. We review here research efforts to characterize the viral genetic basis of mosquito-vector interactions, the use of RNA interference and other strategies for the control of CHIKV in mosquitoes, and the potentiation of CHIKV infection by mosquito saliva. Over the past decade, CHIKV has emerged on a truly global scale. Since 2013, CHIKV transmission has been reported throughout the Caribbean region, in North America, and in Central and South American countries, including Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, and Venezuela. Closing the gaps in our knowledge of driving factors behind the rapid geographic expansion of CHIKV should be considered a research priority. The abundance of multiple primate species in many of these countries, together with species of mosquito that have never been exposed to CHIKV, may provide opportunities for this highly adaptable virus to establish sylvatic cycles that to date have not been seen outside of Africa. The short-term and long-term ecological consequences of such transmission cycles, including the impact on wildlife and people living in these areas, are completely unknown.
Keywords: Ae. albopictus; Aedes (Ae.) aegypti; Chikungunya virus; Geographic expansion; Mosquito–vector interactions; RNA strategies.