Chikungunya virus ECSA lineage reintroduction in the northeasternmost region of Brazil. (April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xavier, Joilson; Fonseca, Vagner; Bezerra, Joao Felipe; do Monte Alves, Manoella; Mares-Guia, Maria Angélica; Claro, Ingra Morales; de Jesus, Ronaldo; Adelino, Talita; Araújo, Emerson; Cavalcante, Karina Ribeiro Leite Jardim; Tosta, Stephane; de Souza, Themis Rocha; Moreira da Cruz, Flavia Emanuelle; de Araújo Fabri, Allison; de Oliveira, Elaine Cristina; de Moura, Noely Fabiana Oliveira; do Carmo Said, Rodrigo Fabiano; de Albuquerque, Carlos Frederico Campelo; Azevedo, Vasco; de Oliveira, Tulio; de Filippis, Ana Maria Bispo; Venâncio da Cunha, Rivaldo; Luz, Kleber Giovanni; Giovanetti, Marta; Alcantara, Luiz Carlos Junior
• Is Part Of: International journal of infectious diseases. Volume 105(2021)
• Page Start: 120
• Page End: 123
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Subjects: Chikungunya virus -- ECSA lineage -- Northeast Brazil -- Genomic epidemiology; Communicable diseases -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- Periodicals; Communicable diseases; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 616.9
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.01.026
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1201-9712

Abstract

Abstract: The Northeast region of Brazil registered the second-highest incidence proportion of Chikungunya fever in 2019. In that year, an outbreak consisting of patients presenting with febrile disease associated with joint pain was reported by the public primary health care service in the city of Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in March 2019. At first, the aetiological agent of the disease was undetermined. Since much is still unknown about chikungunya virus' (CHIKV) genomic diversity and evolutionary history in this northeasternmost state, we used a combination of portable whole-genome sequencing, molecular clock, and epidemiological analyses that revealed the reintroduction of the CHIKV East-Central-South-African (ECSA) lineage into Rio Grande do Norte. We estimated that the CHIKV ECSA lineage was first introduced into Rio Grande do Norte in early June 2014, while the 2019 outbreak clade diverged around April 2018, during a period of increased Chikungunya incidence in the Southeast region, which might have acted as a source of virus dispersion towards the Northeast region. Together, these results confirm that the ECSA lineage continues to spread across the country through interregional importation events, likely mediated by human mobility.