Retrospective Investigation in Horses with Encephalitis Reveals Unnoticed Circulation of West Nile Virus in Brazil

Hegger Fritsch; Felicidade Mota Pereira; Erica Azevedo Costa; Vagner Fonseca; Stephane Tosta; Joilson Xavier; Flavia Levy; Carla de Oliveira; Gabriela Menezes; Jaqueline Lima; Lenisa Santos; Luciana Silva; Vanessa Nardy; Marcela Kelly Gómez Astete; Beatriz Senra Álvares da Silva Santos; Nágila Rocha Aguiar; Maria Isabel Maldonado Coelho Guedes; Guilherme Canhestro de Faria; Ronaldo Furtini; Safira Rachel Milanez Drumond; Gabriel Muricy Cunha; Marcia São Pedro Leal Souza; Ronaldo de Jesus; Sara A. Franco Guimarães; Italo Coelho Nuno; Ian Carlos Brito de Santana; José Eduardo Ungar de Sá; George Roma Santos; Willadesmon Santos Silva; Thiago Ferreira Guedes; Emerson Luiz Lima Araújo; Rodrigo Fabiano do Carmo Said; Carlos Frederico Campelo de Albuquerque; Cassio Roberto Leonel Peterka; Alessandro Pecego Martins Romano; Rivaldo Venâncio da Cunha; Ana Maria Bispo de Filippis; Arabela Leal e Silva de Mello; Marta Giovanetti; Luiz Carlos Junior Alcantara

Retrospective Investigation in Horses with Encephalitis Reveals Unnoticed Circulation of West Nile Virus in Brazil

2022

During these past years, several studies have provided serological evidence regarding the circulation of West Nile virus (WNV) in Brazil. Despite some reports, much is still unknown regarding the genomic diversity and transmission dynamics of this virus in the country. Recently, genomic monitoring activities in horses revealed the circulation of WNV in several Brazilian regions. These findings on the paucity of genomic data reinforce the need for prompt investigation of WNV infection in horses, which may precede human cases of encephalitis in Brazil. Thus, in this study, we retrospectively screened 54 suspicious WNV samples collected between 2017 and 2020 from the spinal cord and brain of horses with encephalitis and generated three new WNV genomes from the Ceará and Bahia states, located in the northeastern region of Brazil. The Bayesian reconstruction revealed that at least two independent introduction events occurred in Brazil. The first introduction event appears to be likely related to the North American outbreak, and was estimated to have occurred in March 2013.The second introduction event appears to have occurred in September 2017 and appears to be likely related to the South American outbreak. Together, our results reinforce the importance of increasing the priority of WNV genomic monitoring in equines with encephalitis in order to track the dispersion of this emerging pathogen through the country.

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