Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging mosquitoborne flavivirus circulating in Asia and Africa. In 2013, a large outbreak was reported on the archipelago of French Polynesia. In this study, we report the detection and molecular characterization of Zika virus for the first time in Chile from an outbreak among the inhabitants of Easter Island. A total of 89 samples from patients suspected of having ZIKV infection were collected between the period from January to May, 2014. Molecular diagnosis of the virus was performed by RT-PCR followed by the sequencing of the region containing the NS5 gene. A comparison of the viral nucleic acid sequence with those of other strains of ZIKA virus was performed using the MEGA software. Fifty-one samples were found positive for ZIKV by RT-PCR analysis. Further analysis of the NS5 gene revealed that the ZIKV strains identified in Easter Island were most closely related to those found in French Polynesia (99.8 to 99.9 % nt and 100 % aa sequence identity). These results strongly suggest that the transmission pathway leading to the introduction of Zika virus on Easter Island has its origin in French Polynesia.Keywords Zika virus Á Easter Island Á Outbreak Á South Pacific Á ZIKV Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus belonging to the family Flaviviridae and the genus Flavivirus. The Flaviviruses also include yellow fever, dengue, St. Louis encephalitis, West Nile, and Japanese encephalitis viruses [6]. ZIKV was first isolated from the blood of a sentinel rhesus monkey inhabiting the Zika Forest in Uganda [6]. Later on, ZIKV was isolated from a mosquito of the species Aedes africanus, obtained from the same locality of the Zika Forest. ZIKV has been isolated from several species of Aedes mosquito, notably, A. aegypti and A. albopictus [10]. A. aegypti is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world [6,11,12].Clinically diagnosed ZIKV infections in human cases have been reported to include self-limiting acute febrile illnesses with fever, headache, myalgia, retro-orbital pain, arthralgia, conjunctivitis, and rash. These clinical presentations closely resemble those that are caused by dengue virus (DENV) and Chikungunya virus [6]. Serological studies and isolation of ZIKV strains have subsequently indicated that the virus has a wide geographical distribution, including regions in East and West Africa, South and South East Asia, and Micronesia [6], where an outbreak of Zika fever was reported on Yap Island [4]. In 2013, a Zika fever outbreak in French Polynesia was the largest ever reported for an arbovirus other than DENV at this location. Following this, there was a report of a Zika outbreak on the Cook Islands of New Caledonia [3,12].In Chile, at the end of 2000, the presence of A. aegypti on Easter Island was reported; the island is located on the east edge of the Polynesian Triangle, in the south Pacific Ocean, with a latitude of 27°9 0 10'' S, and a longitude of 109°27 0 17'' W [13]. The closest continental point from this island is the Chilean coast, l...

The current pandemic caused by the new coronavirus is a worldwide public health concern. To aboard this emergency, and like never before, scientific groups around the world have been working in a fast and coordinated way to get the maximum of information about this virus when it has been almost 3 months since the first cases ORCID Andrés E. Castillo

Zoonotic transmission of Salmonella infections causes an estimated 11% of salmonellosis annually in the United States. This report describes the epidemiologic, traceback and laboratory investigations conducted in the United States as part of four multistate outbreaks of Salmonella infections linked to small turtles. Salmonella isolates indistinguishable from the outbreak strains were isolated from a total of 143 ill people in the United States, pet turtles, and pond water samples collected from turtle farm A, as well as ill people from Chile and Luxembourg. Almost half (45%) of infections occurred in children aged <5 years, underscoring the importance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation to keep pet turtles and other reptiles out of homes and childcare settings with young children. Although only 43% of the ill people who reported turtle exposure provided purchase information, most small turtles were purchased from flea markets or street vendors, which made it difficult to locate the vendor, trace the turtles to a farm of origin, provide education and enforce the United States federal ban on the sale and distribution of small turtles. These outbreaks highlight the importance of improving public awareness and education about the risk of Salmonella from small turtles not only in the United States but also worldwide.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a pandemic caused by a new coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. The growing demand for commercial kits used for automated extraction of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, a key step before rRT-PCR diagnosis, could cause a shortage of stocks that hinders the rapid processing of samples. Although the recommendation is to use automated methods for nucleic acid extraction, alternatives are necessary to replace commercial kits. However, these alternatives should be as reliable as automated methods. This work describes a simple method to detect SARS-CoV-2 from specimens collected in different preservation media. Samples were previously inactivated by heating and precipitating with a PEG/NaCl solution before rRT-PCR assays for Orf1ab, N and S genes. The new method was compared with an automated protocol of nucleic acid extraction. Both procedures showed similar analytical results. Consequently, this simple and inexpensive method is a suitable procedure for laboratory diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Vaccination generates a neutralizing immune response against SARS‐CoV‐2. The genomic surveillance is showing the emergence of variants with mutations in spike, the main target of neutralizing antibodies. To understand the impact of these variants, we report the neutralization potency against alpha, gamma, and D614G SARS‐CoV‐2 variants in 44 individuals that received two doses of CoronaVac vaccine, an inactivated SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccine. Plasma samples collected at 60 days after the second dose of CoronaVac were analyzed by the reduction of cytopathic effect in Vero E6 cells with the three infectious variants of SARS‐CoV‐2. Plasma showed lower neutralization with alpha (geometric mean titer [GMT] = 18.5) and gamma (GMT = 10.0) variants than with D614G (GMT = 75.1) variant. Efficient neutralization against the alpha and gamma variants was not detected in 31.8% and 59.1% of plasma, respectively. These findings suggest the alpha and gamma variants could escape from neutralization by antibodies elicited by vaccination. Robust genomic and biological surveillance of viral variants could help to develop effective strategies for the control of SARS‐CoV‐2.