Abstract
Madariaga virus (MADV), also known as South American eastern equine encephalitis virus, has been identified in animals and humans in South and Central America, but not previously in Hispaniola or the northern Caribbean. MADV was isolated from virus cultures of plasma from an 8-year-old child in a school cohort in the Gressier/Leogane region of Haiti, who was seen in April, 2015, with acute febrile illness (AFI). The virus was subsequently cultured from an additional seven AFI case patients from this same cohort in February, April, and May 2016. Symptoms most closely resembled those seen with confirmed dengue virus infection. Sequence data were available for four isolates: all were within the same clade, with phylogenetic and molecular clock data suggesting recent introduction of the virus into Haiti from Panama sometime in the period from October 2012-January 2015. Our data document the movement of MADV into Haiti, and raise questions about the potential for further spread in the Caribbean or North America.
Highlights
Madariaga virus (MADV), known as South American eastern equine encephalitis virus, is an alphavirus in the family Togaviridae
Madariaga virus (MADV) is the name given to what used to be called South American eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), based on recent studies suggesting that MADV is distinct genetically from the EEEV circulating in North America
Our group has been responsible for a series of studies assessing the etiology of acute febrile illness (AFI) among children in a school cohort in Haiti
Summary
Madariaga virus (MADV), known as South American eastern equine encephalitis virus, is an alphavirus in the family Togaviridae. In population-based serologic surveys in Panama and the Peruvian Amazon, between 2 and 5% of the general population had evidence of prior infection [2,3,5], suggesting that mild or asymptomatic human infection is relatively common. In support of the latter hypothesis, we recently reported isolation of MADV from a child with acute febrile illness (AFI), but no evidence of encephalitis, during the Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic in Venezuela [6]. We report here the apparent recent introduction of MADV into Haiti
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