Emergence of a New Strain of DENV-2 in South America: Introduction of the Cosmopolitan Genotype through the Brazilian-Peruvian Border

Murilo Tavares Amorim; Leonardo H Almeida Hernández; Felipe Gomes Naveca; Ivy Tsuya Essashika Prazeres; Ana Lucia Monteiro Wanzeller; Eliana Vieira Pinto da Silva; Livia M Neves Casseb; Fábio Silva da Silva; Sandro Patroca da Silva; Bruno Tardelli Diniz Nunes; Ana Cecília Ribeiro Cruz

doi:10.3390/tropicalmed8060325

Emergence of a New Strain of DENV-2 in South America: Introduction of the Cosmopolitan Genotype through the Brazilian-Peruvian Border

Trop Med Infect Dis. 2023 Jun 17;8(6):325. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed8060325.

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66075-110, Brazil.
² Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Health and Environment Surveillance Secretariat, Ministry of Health, Ananindeua 67030-000, Brazil.
³ Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil.

Abstract

Dengue virus 2 (DENV-2) seriously contributes to dengue-related mortality. It includes five nonsylvatic genotypes, with cosmopolitan being the most widespread with a significant contribution to the total number of DENV-2 cases globally. In South America, the cosmopolitan genotype was first recorded in 2019 in Madre de Dios, Peru, and then in Goiás (Midwest Brazil) in November 2021. In this study, we tested 163 human serum samples from Acre (Northern Brazil) collected during a DENV outbreak between 2020 and 2021 for all DENV genotypes by RT-qPCR. Of the 163 samples, 139 were positive for DENV-2, and 5 were positive for DENV-1. Five DENV-2-positive samples from early 2021 were sequenced, and the sequences clustered with the three other DENV-2 cosmopolitan genotype sequences already recorded on the continent. These results create a geographical link, suggesting the possible route of introduction of the DENV-2 cosmopolitan genotype into Brazil through the border with Peru, from which it may have dispersed to Midwest Brazil.

Keywords: arboviruses; cosmopolitan genotype; dengue virus serotype 2.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the Evandro Chagas Institute, Health and Environment Surveillance Secretariat, Ministry of Health, Brazil. Grant number “88887.612806/2021-00”. The manuscript payment was funded by PROPESP/UFPA(PAPQ).