First complete genome sequences of Zika virus from Midwest Brazil, 2015

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) has been intensively studied in Brazil since 2015-2016 epidemics, but little is known about the virus in Midwest region of the country. We report here two ZIKV complete genomes, which were isolated during arboviral surveillance in Sinop city, southern border of the Amazonian forest, Midwest Brazil, 2015.Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne arbovirus that has a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome. This virus belongs to the Flaviviridae family, Flavivirus genus, and has recently emerged as one of the most serious global public health threat. Symptoms are usually mild and up to 80% of ZIKV infections can be asymptomatic ( 1 ). However, ZIKV has been associated to neurological complications such as congenital Zika syndrome in newborns, Guillain-Barré syndrome and other neurological complications in adults ( 2, 3, 4 ).