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
Main Authors: Maha A Elbadry, Ricardo Durães-Carvalho, Gabriela M Blohm, Caroline J Stephenson, Julia C Loeb, Sarah K White, Taina Telisma, Sonese Chavannes, Valery M Beau De Rochars, Marco Salemi, J Glenn Morris, John A Lednicky
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Subjects:
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
Arctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009494
https://doaj.org/article/dfabe912eabf4bc48af6da47db09fad0
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.

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