Open AccessEmergence of Madariaga virus as a cause of acute febrile illness in children, Haiti, 2015-2016
Author(s) -
John A. Lednicky,
Sarah K. White,
Carla Mavian,
Maha A. El Badry,
Taina Telisma,
Marco Salemi,
Bernard A. Okech,
Valery Madsen Beau De Rochars,
J. Glenn Morris
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
plos neglected tropical diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.99
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1935-2735
pISSN - 1935-2727
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006972
Subject(s) - virus , dengue virus , zika virus , cohort , virology , caribbean region , dengue fever , clade , encephalitis , panama , arbovirus , japanese encephalitis , medicine , pediatrics , biology , phylogenetics , latin americans , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , biochemistry , gene
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.