Emergence of Madariaga virus as a cause of acute febrile illness in children, Haiti, 2015-2016

Abstract

Madariaga virus (MADV), also known as South American eastern equine encephalitis virus, has been identified in animals and humans in South and Central America, but not previously in Hispaniola or the northern Caribbean. MADV was isolated from virus cultures of plasma from an 8-year-old child in a school cohort in the Gressier/Leogane region of Haiti, who was seen in April, 2015, with acute febrile illness (AFI). The virus was subsequently cultured from an additional seven AFI case patients from this same cohort in February, April, and May 2016. Symptoms most closely resembled those seen with confirmed dengue virus infection. Sequence data were available for four isolates: all were within the same clade, with phylogenetic and molecular clock data suggesting recent introduction of the virus into Haiti from Panama sometime in the period from October 2012-January 2015. Our data document the movement of MADV into Haiti, and raise questions about the potential for further spread in the Caribbean or North America.

Emergence of porcine delta-coronavirus pathogenic infections among children in Haiti through independent zoonoses and convergent evolution

“…Appropriate medical care based on clinical presentation and laboratory studies was provided to study participants by clinic health care providers. Data on identification of arboviruses and other virus species among children participating in the study have been previously reported 22,23,25,26,[41][42][43][44] .…”

Serologic Evidence of Zoonotic Alphaviruses in Humans from an Indigenous Community in the Peruvian Amazon

“…Human seroprevalence. Based on our PRNT results, the seroprevalence for MAYV, VEE complex alphavirus, UNAV, and MADV in people from Nueva Esperanza was 24% (17/70, 95% CI [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]), 16% (11/67, 95% CI [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]), 13% (6/48, 95% CI [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]…”

“…6 However, encephalitis cases and mild or asymptomatic cases mostly affecting children have been attributed to MADV recently in Venezuela, Haiti, and Panama. [7][8][9][10] Finally, although Una virus (UNAV) has been isolated from mosquitos of the Peruvian Amazon, it has been rarely associated with human disease. 11,12 Therefore, its distribution and the human disease risk in this region remain unknown.…”

Epidemic Alphaviruses: Ecology, Emergence and Outbreaks

“…Interestingly, this epizootic also had 50 equine infections [85]. From 2015-2016, eight MADV infections were reported in a cohort of young school children in Haiti [130,131]. Similarly, in 2016, a single adolescent patient in Venezuela was diagnosed with MADV after demonstrating signs of a nonspecific febrile illness that was hypothesized to be due to recent travel to a locale that reported an equine epizootic of MADV [132].…”