Co-infection of Peruvian horse sickness virus and West Nile virus associated with neurological diseases in horses from Brazil
Sandro Patroca da Silva,
Daniele Barbosa de Almeida Medeiros,
Ana Cecília Ribeiro Cruz,
Ana Flávia Marques França,
Bruno Tardelli Diniz Nunes,
Daniela Sueli Guerreiro Rodrigues,
Eliana Vieira Pinto da Silva,
Gilton Luiz Almada,
Lívia Medeiros Neves Casseb,
Marcos Antônio Correia Rodrigues da Cunha,
Maria Guadalupe Dias Pestana Santos,
Meik Dilcher,
Sávio Guimarães Britto,
Alessandro Pecego Martins Romano,
Jannifer Oliveira Chiang,
Lívia Caricio Martins
Affiliations
Sandro Patroca da Silva
Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, BR 316, Km 07, s/n CEP 67.030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil; Corresponding author.
Daniele Barbosa de Almeida Medeiros
Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, BR 316, Km 07, s/n CEP 67.030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil
Ana Cecília Ribeiro Cruz
Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, BR 316, Km 07, s/n CEP 67.030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil
Ana Flávia Marques França
Secretariat of Health of Espírito Santo state, Av. Mal. Mascarenhas de Moraes, 2025 - Bento Ferreira, 29050-755, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
Bruno Tardelli Diniz Nunes
Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, BR 316, Km 07, s/n CEP 67.030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil
Daniela Sueli Guerreiro Rodrigues
Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, BR 316, Km 07, s/n CEP 67.030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil
Eliana Vieira Pinto da Silva
Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, BR 316, Km 07, s/n CEP 67.030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil
Gilton Luiz Almada
Secretariat of Health of Espírito Santo state, Av. Mal. Mascarenhas de Moraes, 2025 - Bento Ferreira, 29050-755, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
Lívia Medeiros Neves Casseb
Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, BR 316, Km 07, s/n CEP 67.030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil
Marcos Antônio Correia Rodrigues da Cunha
Secretariat of Health of Espírito Santo state, Av. Mal. Mascarenhas de Moraes, 2025 - Bento Ferreira, 29050-755, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
Maria Guadalupe Dias Pestana Santos
Secretariat of Health of Venécia Municipality, Rua Ibiraçu, 26, Bairro Margareth, Nova Venécia/ES, CEP 29.830-000, Venécia, Espírito Santo, Brazil
Meik Dilcher
Microbiology Department, Canterbury Health Laboratories, 524 Hagley Avenue, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
Sávio Guimarães Britto
Secretariat of Health of Espírito Santo state, Av. Mal. Mascarenhas de Moraes, 2025 - Bento Ferreira, 29050-755, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
Alessandro Pecego Martins Romano
Ministry of Health, Health Surveillance Secretariat, Brasília, DF, Brazil
Jannifer Oliveira Chiang
Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, BR 316, Km 07, s/n CEP 67.030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil
Lívia Caricio Martins
Department of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fevers, Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, BR 316, Km 07, s/n CEP 67.030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil; Corresponding author.
In 2018, during the surveillance for West Nile virus (WNV) in horses with neurological clinical signs in the state of Espírito Santo (Brazil), 19 animals were investigated, and 52 biological samples were collected for WNV diagnostic. One brain sample was positive for WNV by RT-qPCR and the virus was isolated in C6/36 cell culture and sequenced. We obtained a nearly complete genome of WNV co-infected with Peruvian horse sickness virus (PHSV) in the cell culture. After confirmation of PHSV by next-generation sequencing, a new PHSV RT-qPCR protocol was developed, which was used to detect another horse positive only for PHSV. This assay provides a simple and direct method for easy identification of PHSV from biological samples from horses and may become a useful tool in the epidemiological surveillance of this virus. It is the first case of PHSV in Brazil, and only the third country overall to report, 23 years after the first confirmed notification in Peru. Moreover, it is the first reported co-infection of PHSV and WNV in a horse with neurological signs, confirmed by RT-qPCR.
