Mayaro Fever in the City of Manaus, Brazil, 2007–2008

Abstract

Mayaro Alphavirus is an arbovirus that causes outbreaks of acute febrile illness in the Amazon region of South America. We show here the cases of Mayaro fever that occurred in 2007-2008, in Manaus, a large city and capital of the Amazonas State, in Western Brazilian Amazon. IgM antibodies to Mayaro virus (MAYV) were detected by an enzyme immunoassay using infected cell cultures as antigen in the sera of 33 patients from both genera and 6-65 years old. MAYV genome was also detected by RT-PCR in the blood of 1/33 of these patients. The patients presented mainly with headache, arthralgia, myalgia, ocular pain, and rash. These cases of Mayaro fever are likely to represent the tip of an iceberg, and probably a much greater number of cases occurred in Manaus in the study period.

Arboviral diseases in the Western Brazilian Amazon: a perspective and analysis from a tertiary health & research center in Manaus, State of Amazonas

“…All patients recovered without sequelae and were not hospitalized. It was found that Mayaro fever occurs all year long in Manaus, but the cases are more frequent from November through March, the rainy months of the year (15) .…”

“…Cases of Mayaro fever were observed in both genders and included patients from 6 to 65 years old (15) .…”

“…The sequence of 201 nucleotides from the amplicon (AM28725 -Gene Bank submission number HQ664947) showed 97% homology with the prototype MAYV sequence (TRVL15537), as assessed by Blast (15) .…”

Emerging alphaviruses in the Americas: Chikungunya and Mayaro

“…In contrast, MAYV is an arbovirus transmitted by Haemagogus mosquitoes that feed on primates that live in tree canopies 12 . This virus causes sporadic cases or outbreaks of febrile illness in the Amazon region, including large cities, such as Manaus 13 . A MAYV mutant could adapt to anthropophilic mosquito vectors and spread toward northeastern and southeastern Brazil, as well as neighboring countries, which would result in an even more serious public health problem.…”

Serious disease outbreaks caused by viruses transmitted by Aedes aegypti in Brazil

“…Another Alphavirus, Mayaro virus (MAYV), is endemic in the Amazon and the Central Plateau of Brazil, leading to the outbreaks of acute febrile illness affecting joints (6) . However, the circulation of this virus, which causes zoonotic disease of primates, is increasing.…”