RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Nonspecific acute tropical febrile illnesses (NEATFI) are common in the Latin American tropics. Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika, Mayaro, and Usutu, among others, can coexist in the American tropics. This study aimed to surveil the arboviruses that cause| acute febrile syndrome in patients in the Meta department, Colombia. METHODS: Between June 2021 and February 2023, an epidemiological surveillance study was conducted in the Llanos of the Meta department in Eastern Colombia. RESULTS: One hundred patients in the acute phase with typical prodromal symptoms of NEATFI infection who attended the emergency department of the Villavicencio Departmental Hospital were included. ELISA tests were performed for Dengue, Usutu, Chikungunya, and Mayaro. RT-qPCR was performed to detect the arboviruses Usutu, Dengue, Zika, Mayaro, and Oropouche. The seroprevalence for the Chikungunya, Mayaro, and Usutu viruses was 41 % (28/68), 40 % (27/67), and 62 % (47/75), respectively. Seroconversion for Chikungunya was observed in one patient; two seroconverted to Mayaro and one to Usutu. The NS5 gene fragment of the Usutu virus was detected in nine febrile patients. RT-qPCR of the remaining arboviruses was negative. The clinical symptoms of the nine Usutu-positive patients were very similar to those of Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika, and Mayaro infections. CONCLUSIONS: The pervasive detection of unexpected viruses such as Usutu and Mayaro demonstrated the importance of searching for other viruses different from Dengue. Because Usutu infection and Mayaro fever have clinical features like Dengue, a new algorithm should be proposed to improve the accuracy of acute tropical fevers.
Assuntos
Infecções por Arbovirus , Arbovírus , Monitoramento Epidemiológico , Humanos , Colômbia/epidemiologia , Masculino , Feminino , Arbovírus/isolamento & purificação , Arbovírus/genética , Infecções por Arbovirus/epidemiologia , Infecções por Arbovirus/virologia , Infecções por Arbovirus/diagnóstico , Adulto , Adolescente , Adulto Jovem , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Soroepidemiológicos , Febre/epidemiologia , Febre/virologia , Criança , Anticorpos Antivirais/sangue , Pré-Escolar , Febre de Chikungunya/epidemiologia , Febre de Chikungunya/diagnóstico , Idoso , Ensaio de Imunoadsorção EnzimáticaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Ticks are obligate hematophagous ectoparasites involved in transmitting viruses of public health importance. The objective of this work was to identify the Jingmen tick virus in hard ticks from the Colombian Caribbean, an arbovirus of importance for public health. METHODS: Ticks were collected in rural areas of Córdoba and Cesar, Colombia. Taxonomic identification of ticks was carried out, and pools of 13 individuals were formed. RNA extraction was performed. Library preparation was performed with the MGIEasy kit, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) with MGI equipment. Bioinformatic analyses and taxonomic assignments were performed using the Galaxy platform, and phylogenetic analyses were done using IQ-TREE2. RESULTS: A total of 766 ticks were collected, of which 87.33% (669/766) were Rhipicephalus microplus, 5.4% (42/766) Dermacentor nitens, 4.2% (32/766) Rhipicephalus linnaei, and 3.0% (23/766) Amblyomma dissimile. Complete and partial segments 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Jingmen tick virus (JMTV) were detected in the metatranscriptome of the species R. microplus, D. nitens, and A. dissimile. The JMTVs detected are phylogenetically related to JMTVs detected in Aedes albopictus in France, JMTVs detected in R. microplus in Trinidad and Tobago, JMTVs in R. microplus and A. variegatum in the French Antilles, and JMTVs detected in R. microplus in Colombia. Interestingly, our sequences clustered closely with JMTV detected in humans from Kosovo. CONCLUSIONS: JMTV was detected in R. microplus, D. nitens, and A. dissimile. JMTV could pose a risk to humans. Therefore, it is vital to establish epidemiological surveillance measures to better understand the possible role of JMTV in tropical diseases.
Assuntos
Arbovírus , Ixodidae , Filogenia , Animais , Colômbia/epidemiologia , Ixodidae/virologia , Ixodidae/classificação , Arbovírus/genética , Arbovírus/isolamento & purificação , Arbovírus/classificação , Região do Caribe , Feminino , Masculino , Saúde Pública , Sequenciamento de Nucleotídeos em Larga Escala , Rhipicephalus/virologia , Rhipicephalus/classificação , Humanos , Amblyomma/virologia , Dermacentor/virologiaAssuntos
Influenza Aviária , Influenza Humana , Colômbia/epidemiologia , Humanos , América Latina/epidemiologia , Animais , Influenza Aviária/epidemiologia , Influenza Aviária/virologia , Influenza Humana/epidemiologia , Influenza Humana/prevenção & controle , Aves/virologia , Doenças Transmissíveis Emergentes/epidemiologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The genus Borrelia comprises pathogenic species of bacteria that pose a significant risk to public health. Borrelia spp. are emerging or reemerging infectious agents worldwide with complex transmission cycles, and many species use rodents as vertebrate reservoir hosts. Spirochetes morphologically compatible with Borrelia have been recurrently observed in opossums; however, there is currently a lack of genetic evidence confirming infection or supporting that these marsupials are hosts of Borrelia spirochetes. METHODS: During 2017, 53 serum samples of Didelphis marsupialis from the municipality of Colosó (department of Sucre, Colombia) were collected and allocated in a serum bank. DNA extracted from the serum samples was submitted to a Borrelia genus-specific real-time PCR targeting the 16S rRNA gene. Positive samples were subsequently derived from semi-nested PCR protocols to obtain large fragments of the 16S rRNA and flaB genes. Obtained amplicons were subjected to Sanger sequencing. One positive sample was randomly selected for next-generation sequencing (NGS). Obtained reads were mapped to genomes of Borrelia spp. and sequences of two genes used in a multilocus sequence typing scheme retrieved for taxonomic assignment and phylogenetic analyses. RESULTS: Overall, 18.8% (10/53) of the samples were positive by qPCR. Of them, 80% (8/10) and 60% (6/10) were positive for the 16S rRNA and flaB genes after semi-nested PCRs, respectively. Bioinformatic analysis of one sample sequenced with NGS yielded 22 reads of genus Borrelia with different sizes. Two housekeeping genes, rplB and pyrG, were recovered. Nucleotide pairwise comparisons and phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA, flaB, rplB and pyrG genes showed that the Borrelia sp. found in opossums from Colosó corresponded to Borrelia puertoricensis. CONCLUSIONS: We describe the first molecular evidence to our knowledge of B. puertoricensis in Colombia, specifically in opossums, and the first detection of this spirochete in a vertebrate host since its isolation from Ornithodoros puertoricensis in Panama. This detection is also relevant because of the epidemiological importance of opossums as reservoirs of zoonotic diseases to humans.
Assuntos
Borrelia , Didelphis , Febre Recorrente , Animais , Colômbia/epidemiologia , Filogenia , Febre Recorrente/microbiologia , RNA Ribossômico 16S/genéticaRESUMO
In Colombia, tropical febrile illnesses represent one of the most important causes of clinical attention. Febrile illnesses in the tropics are mainly zoonotic and have a broad etiology. The Colombian surveillance system monitors some notifiable diseases. However, several etiologies are not monitored by this system. In the present review, we describe eleven different etiologies of zoonotic tropical febrile illnesses that are not monitored by the Colombian surveillance system but have scientific, historical, and contemporary data that confirm or suggest their presence in different regions of the country: Anaplasma, Arenavirus, Bartonella, relapsing fever group Borrelia, Coxiella burnetii, Ehrlichia, Hantavirus, Mayaro virus, Orientia, Oropouche virus, and Rickettsia. These could generate a risk for the local population, travelers, and immigrants, due to which they should be included in the mandatory notification system, considering their importance for Colombian public health.
RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Acute Respiratory Infections (ARIs) are considered one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Children under five and older adults are most likely to die from this cause. OBJECTIVE: To describe the behavior of infection by respiratory viruses other than SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic in a clinic in the Colombian Caribbean. METHODS: This descriptive and retrospective study evaluates the characteristics, associated comorbidities, and requirements of hospitalization or Intensive Care Unit in patients diagnosed with respiratory viral infections treated at IMAT Oncomedica clinic from July 2020 to August 2022. RESULTS: This study evaluated 351 patients with respiratory symptoms, observing an exponential increase in cases of respiratory infection as of April 2022, with a high proportion of syncytial virus infections mainly in children under 18 years of age (22.1%) and Human Rhinovirus/Enterovirus in patients with solid tumors and hematological disorders (48.8%), the latter was associated with a higher rate of hospitalization and ICU requirement in the individuals evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: Respiratory viruses other than SARS-CoV-2, such as Rhino/Enterovirus, RSV, and adenovirus, are circulating in the population at a clinic on the Colombian Caribbean coast. The findings should motivate public health authorities to conduct more thorough surveillance in the rest of the state.
Assuntos
COVID-19 , Infecções por Vírus Respiratório Sincicial , Vírus Sincicial Respiratório Humano , Infecções Respiratórias , Vírus , Criança , Humanos , Lactente , Adolescente , Idoso , SARS-CoV-2 , Estudos Retrospectivos , Colômbia/epidemiologia , Pandemias , COVID-19/epidemiologia , COVID-19/complicações , Infecções Respiratórias/epidemiologia , Região do Caribe/epidemiologia , Infecções por Vírus Respiratório Sincicial/epidemiologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The emergence of highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants has led to surges in cases and the need for global genomic surveillance. While some variants rapidly spread worldwide, other variants only persist nationally. There is a need for more fine-scale analysis to understand transmission dynamics at a country scale. For instance, the Mu variant of interest, also known as lineage B.1.621, was first detected in Colombia and was responsible for a large local wave but only a few sporadic cases elsewhere. METHODS: To better understand the epidemiology of SARS-Cov-2 variants in Colombia, we used 14,049 complete SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the 32 states of Colombia. We performed Bayesian phylodynamic analyses to estimate the time of variants' introduction, their respective effective reproductive number, and effective population size, and the impact of disease control measures. RESULTS: Here, we detect a total of 188 SARS-CoV-2 Pango lineages circulating in Colombia since the pandemic's start. We show that the effective reproduction number oscillated drastically throughout the first two years of the pandemic, with Mu showing the highest transmissibility (Re and growth rate estimation). CONCLUSIONS: Our results reinforce that genomic surveillance programs are essential for countries to make evidence-driven interventions toward the emergence and circulation of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Colombia reported its first COVID-19 case on 6th March 2020. By April 2022, the country had reported over 6 million infections and over 135,000 deaths. Here, we aim to understand how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, spread through Colombia over this time and how the predominant version of the virus (variant) changed over time. We found that there were multiple introductions of different variants from other countries into Colombia during the first two years of the pandemic. The Gamma variant was dominant earlier in 2021 but was replaced by the Delta variant. The Mu variant had the highest potential to be transmitted. Our findings provide valuable insights into the pandemic in Colombia and highlight the importance of continued surveillance of the virus to guide the public health response.
RESUMO
Shewanella algae is an opportunistic Gram-negative bacillus that inhabits marine ecosystems and can cause sepsis in humans. This case report describes an 80-year-old obese woman with liver cirrhosis who presented with neurological and respiratory impairment. Shewanella algae were isolated in the blood cultures. Due to age and comorbidities, sepsis could be the cause of the patient's fatal outcome. Shewanella algae infection is a risk for immunocompromised people in the tropics.