Molecular characterization of Chikungunya virus recovered from patients in the Maranhão state, Brazil.

BACKGROUND: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus from the Togaviridae family which has four genotypes: West African (WA), East/Central/South African (ECSA) and Asian/Caribbean lineage (AL) and Indian Ocean Lineage (IOL). The ECSA genotype was first registered in Brazil in Feira de Santana and spread to all Brazilian regions. This study reports the characterization of CHIKV isolates recovered from sera samples of fifty patients from seventeen cities in Maranhão, a state from Brazilian northeast region and part of the Legal Amazon area. METHODS AND RESULTS: Primers were developed to amplify the partial regions coding structural proteins (E1, E3, E2, 6 K, and Capsid C). The consensus sequences have 2871 bp, covering approximately 24% of the genome. The isolates were highly similar (> 99%) to the ECSA isolate from Feira de Santana (BHI3734/H804698), presenting 30 non-synonymous mutations in E1 (5.95%), 18 in E2 (4.46%), and 1 in E3 (3.03%), taking the BHI3734/H804698 isolate as standard. Although the mutations described have not previously been related to increased infectivity or transmissibility of CHIKV, in silico analysis showed changes in physicochemical characteristics, antigenicity, and B cell epitopes of E1 and E2. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate the importance of molecular approaches for monitoring the viral adaptations undergone by CHIKV and its geographic distribution.

Dengue e Chikungunya: soroepidemiologia em usuários da atenção básica / Dengue and chikungunya: seroepidemiology in primary care users

Objetivo: caracterizar o perfil epidemiológico das arboviroses dengue e Chikungunya. Método: trata-se de um estudo epidemiológico, descritivo, retrospectivo, quantitativo. Escolheu-se um total de mil prontuários de pacientes com sorologia IgM positiva para dengue e Chikungunya de forma aleatória entre os resultados sorológicos ocorridos no ano de 2016. Coletaram-se as informações sociodemográficas dos pacientes, e os resultados se apresentam em forma de figuras. Resultados: revela-se que, dos mil prontuários escolhidos aleatoriamente de ambas as arboviroses, o sexo feminino foi o mais acometido; a faixa etária com maior número de casos foi de 21 a 40 anos e a com menor número foi em maiores de 60 anos; a etnia parda e a zona urbana foram as que mais apresentaram casos de dengue e Chikungunya e, em relação à notificação, somente um pouco mais da metade dos casos foi notificado. Conclusão: apontou-se, pelo estudo, um perfil endêmico de infecção por arboviroses que merece atenção e esforço dos gestores, profissionais e da sociedade, para o devido controle e monitoramento das arboviroses no Brasil. Ressalta-se a necessidade de os serviços de Atenção Primária à Saúde terem resolutividade quanto à vigilância epidemiológica, principalmente na notificação e investigação das arboviroses de forma adequada.(AU)

Objective: to characterize the epidemiological profile of arboviruses dengue and Chikungunya. Method: this is an epidemiological, descriptive, retrospective, quantitative study. A total of one thousand patient records were selected from patients with dengue-positive IgM seropositivity and were randomly selected from the serological results of the year 2016. Sociodemographic information was collected from the patients, and the results are presented in the form of figures. Results: it is revealed that, of the thousand records chosen at random from both arboviruses, the female was the most affected; the age group with the highest number of cases was between 21 and 40 years old, and the smallest age group was older than 60 years; the ethnic group and the urban area were the ones that presented the most cases of dengue and Chikungunya, and in relation to the notification, only a little more than half of the cases were reported. Conclusion: an endemic profile of arbovirus infection that deserves attention and effort by managers, professionals and society, for the proper control and monitoring of arboviruses in Brazil, was pointed out by the study. It is important to emphasize the need for Primary Health Care services to have a high level of epidemiological surveillance, especially when reporting and investigating arboviruses in an adequate manner.(AU)

Objetivo: caracterizar el perfil epidemiológico de las arbovirosis dengue y chikungunya. Método: se trata de un estudio epidemiológico, descriptivo, retrospectivo, cuantitativo. Se eligió un total de mil prontuarios de pacientes con serología IgM positiva para dengue y chikungunya de forma aleatoria entre los resultados serológicos ocurridos en el año 2016. Se recogen las informaciones sociodemográficas de los pacientes y los resultados se presentan en forma de figuras. Resultados: se revela que, de los mil prontuarios elegidos aleatoriamente de ambas arbovirosis, el sexo femenino fue el más acometido; el grupo de edad con mayor número de casos fue de 21 a 40 años y la con menor número fue en mayores de 60 años; la etnia parda y la zona urbana fueron las que más presentaron casos de dengue y chikungunya y, en relación a la notificación, sólo un poco más de la mitad de los casos fue notificado. Conclusión: se apuntó, por el estudio, un perfil endémico de infección por arbovirosis que merece atención y esfuerzo de los gestores, profesionales y de la sociedad, para el debido control y monitoreo de las arbovirosis en Brasil. Se resalta la necesidad de que los servicios de Atención Primaria a la Salud tengan resolución en cuanto a la vigilancia epidemiológica, principalmente en la notificación e investigación de las arbovirosis de forma adecuada.(AU)