Abstract. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) often co-circulates with dengue virus (DENV). A cross-sectional surveillance study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Manila, Philippines, to describe the prevalence and characteristics of DENV and CHIKV infections among patients seeking care for dengue-like illness. Acute blood samples from patients ≥ 6 months of age clinically diagnosed with dengue from November 2012 to December 2013 underwent reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect DENV and CHIKV RNA. A total of 118 patients with clinically diagnosed dengue (age range = 1-89 years, mean = 22 years; male-to-female ratio = 1.51) were tested by DENV RT-PCR; 40 (34%) were DENV PCR-positive (age range = 1-45 years, mean = 17 years). All DENV serotypes were detected: 11 (28%) DENV-1, 6 (15%) DENV-2, 6 (15%) DENV-3, and 17 (42%) DENV-4. Of 112 patients clinically diagnosed with dengue and tested by CHIKV RT-PCR, 11 (10%) were CHIKV PCR-positive (age range = 2-47 years, mean = 20.3 years). No coinfections were detected. Presenting signs/symptoms did not differ between DENV-and CHIKV-positive cases. Sequencing of envelope 1 gene from two CHIKV PCR-positive samples showed Asian genotype. This study highlights the potential for misdiagnosis of medically attended CHIKV infections as DENV infection and the difficulty in clinically differentiating dengue and chikungunya based on presenting signs/symptoms alone. This underscores the necessity for diagnostic laboratory tests to distinguish CHIKV infections in the background of actively co-circulating DENV.

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Here, we report the coding-complete genome sequences of 23 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) samples from the Philippines. Sequences were obtained from nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-positive patients. Mutation analysis showed the presence of the D614G mutation in the spike protein in 22 of 23 genomes.

During 2013–2016, we isolated blaNDM- and blaVIM-harboring Enterobacteriaceae and nonfermentative bacteria from patients in the Philippines. Of 130 carbapenem-resistant isolates tested, 45 were Carba NP–positive; 43 harbored blaNDM, and 2 harbored blaVIM. Multidrug-resistant microbial pathogen surveillance and antimicrobial drug stewardship are needed to prevent further spread of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase variants.