Antibodies Against Henipa-Like Viruses in Brazilian Bats.

Bats are reservoir hosts for many paramyxoviruses, some of which cause human and zoonotic diseases of public health importance. We developed a Nipah virus nucleoprotein enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect cross-reactive antibodies in serum samples from several bat species in Brazil. Our results warrant further investigation of henipa-like virus reservoirs in the Western hemisphere.

Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis: The Foothold in Undervaccination.

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a fatal complication of measles infection. We present a case of a fully vaccinated 3-year-old boy who was diagnosed with and treated for autoimmune encephalitis before arriving at a diagnosis of SSPE. We discuss the challenges of diagnosing SSPE in developed countries.

Genetic homogeneity of measles viruses associated with a measles outbreak, São Paulo, Brazil, 1997.

During a resurgence of measles in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1997, >40,000 cases (peak incidence rate of 246/100,000 inhabitants) and 42 measles-related deaths were reported. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and nucleotide sequencing were used to analyze specimens from patients who had typical clinical measles infection during this outbreak and from six patients who had had measles in 1995 and 1996. Although wild-type measles viruses (genotypes D5 and D6) were present in São Paulo before this resurgence, we detected only D6 viruses. The genotype D6 viruses isolated during this outbreak had identical sequences to genotype D6 viruses isolated in other parts of Brazil and South America in 1997 and 1998, suggesting that a single chain of transmission was responsible. We also identified genotype A viruses in two vaccine-associated cases from 1995 and 1996. Our findings extend the knowledge of the circulation patterns of measles virus in South America, contributing to measles control efforts in the Americas.