Abstract
Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) has been responsible for hundreds of thousands of human and equine cases of severe disease in the Americas. A passive surveillance study was conducted in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador to determine the arboviral etiology of febrile illness. Patients with suspected viral-associated, acute, undifferentiated febrile illness of <7 days duration were enrolled in the study and blood samples were obtained from each patient and assayed by virus isolation. Demographic and clinical information from each patient was also obtained at the time of voluntary enrollment. In 2005–2007, cases of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) were diagnosed for the first time in residents of Bolivia; the patients did not report traveling, suggesting endemic circulation of VEEV in Bolivia. In 2001 and 2003, VEE cases were also identified in Ecuador. Since 1993, VEEV has been continuously isolated from patients in Loreto, Peru, and more recently (2005), in Madre de Dios, Peru. We performed phylogenetic analyses with VEEV from Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru and compared their relationships to strains from other parts of South America. We found that VEEV subtype ID Panama/Peru genotype is the predominant one circulating in Peru. We also demonstrated that VEEV subtype ID strains circulating in Ecuador belong to the Colombia/Venezuela genotype and VEEV from Madre de Dios, Peru and Cochabamba, Bolivia belong to a new ID genotype. In summary, we identified a new major lineage of enzootic VEEV subtype ID, information that could aid in the understanding of the emergence and evolution of VEEV in South America.
Highlights
Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), a member of the family Togaviridae genus Alphavirus, has been responsible for outbreaks involving hundreds-of-thousands of equine and human cases of severe disease in the Americas [1]
We found that most VEEV from Peru grouped within a particular genetic lineage known to circulate in Panama and Peru whereas the VEEV circulating in Ecuador belong to a genetic lineage that circulates in Colombia and Venezuela
The VEEV from Madre de Dios, Peru and Cochabamba, Bolivia belong to a new genetic lineage
Summary
Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), a member of the family Togaviridae genus Alphavirus, has been responsible for outbreaks involving hundreds-of-thousands of equine and human cases of severe disease in the Americas [1]. In Ecuador, VEE was first confirmed in 1944 when the virus was isolated from the blood of a sick horse [3]. In 1958, VEEV neutralizing antibodies were found in sera of inhabitants of the Pacific coastal region of Ecuador [4]. In 1968–1969, a large outbreak involving more than 30,000 equids was reported, and in 1975–1977, field work investigations in Ecuador yielded VEEV isolates that were characterized genetically as the Southwestern Colombia/Ecuador ID genotype [5,6]
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