Orthobunyaviruses in the Caribbean: Melao and Oropouche virus infections in school children in Haiti in 2014

We report the identification of two orthobunyaviruses, Melao virus (MELV) and Oropouche virus (OROV), in plasma specimens from Haitian children with acute febrile illness who presented during outbreaks caused by alpha- and flaviviruses in 2014. Heretofore not described as a human pathogen, MELV was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS neglected tropical diseases 2021-06, Vol.15 (6), p.e0009494-e0009494
Main Authors: Elbadry, Maha A, Durães-Carvalho, Ricardo, Blohm, Gabriela M, Stephenson, Caroline J, Loeb, Julia C, White, Sarah K, Telisma, Taina, Chavannes, Sonese, Beau De Rochars, Valery M, Salemi, Marco, Morris, J. Glenn, Lednicky, John A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology and Life Sciences
Bunyaviruses
Causes of
Cell culture
Chikungunya virus
Children
DNA polymerase
Elementary school students
Encephalitis
Epidemics
Fever
Genomes
Haiti
Health aspects
Identification and classification
Illnesses
Infections
Laboratories
Lymphadenopathy
Malaria
Medicine and Health Sciences
Microbiological strains
Nucleotide sequence
Outbreaks
Pain
Parasites
Pathogens
Pediatric research
People and places
Phylogeny
Plasma
Research and Analysis Methods
RNA polymerase
RNA virus infections
Social Sciences
Statistics
Strains
Tropical diseases
Viruses
Zika virus
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Description
Summary:We report the identification of two orthobunyaviruses, Melao virus (MELV) and Oropouche virus (OROV), in plasma specimens from Haitian children with acute febrile illness who presented during outbreaks caused by alpha- and flaviviruses in 2014. Heretofore not described as a human pathogen, MELV was isolated in cell culture from the plasma of five case patients. OROV RNA was detected in the plasma of an additional child, using an unbiased sequencing approach, with phylogenetic inference suggesting a close relationship with strains from Brazil. Abdominal pain was reported by four case patients with MELV infections, with lymphadenopathy noted in two cases. Our findings document the occurrence of these orthobunyaviruses within the Caribbean region and highlight the critical importance of surveillance with viral genome sequence analyses to identify outbreaks caused by these and other emerging viruses.
ISSN:1935-2735
1935-2727
1935-2735
DOI:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009494