Emerging Infectious Diseases (May 2025)

Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, Peruvian Amazon, 2020

  • Marta Piche-Ovares,
  • Maria Paquita García Mendoza,
  • Andres Moreira-Soto,
  • Carlo Fischer,
  • Sebastian Brünink,
  • Maribel Dana Figueroa-Romero,
  • Nancy Susy Merino-Sarmiento,
  • Adolfo Ismael Marcelo-Ñique,
  • Edward Málaga-Trillo,
  • Miladi Gatty-Nogueira,
  • César Augusto Cabezas Sanchez,
  • Jan Felix Drexler

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3105.241694
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 31, no. 5
pp. 995 – 999

Abstract

Read online

We screened 1,972 febrile patients from the Peruvian Amazon in 2020–2021 for Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV). Neutralizing antibody detection rate was 3.9%; 2 patients were PCR positive. Genome identity compared to Peru VEEV subtype ID strains was 97.6%–98.1%. Evidence for purifying selection and ancestry ≈54 years ago corroborated VEEV endemicity.

Keywords