Liliane Costa Conteville1,2, Louise Zanella1, Michel Abanto Marín1, Ana Maria Bispo de Filippis2, Rita Maria Ribeiro Nogueira2, Ana Carolina Paulo Vicente1,+, Marcos César Lima de Mendonça2
1Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Genética Molecular de Microrganismos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
2Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Flavivírus, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen that emerged in Brazil by late 2014. In the country, two CHIKV foci characterized by the East/Central/South Africa and Asian genotypes, were established in North and Northeast regions. We characterized, by phylogenetic analyses of full and partial genomes, CHIKV from Rio de Janeiro state (2014-2015). These CHIKV strains belong to the Asian genotype, which is the determinant of the current Northern Brazilian focus, even though the genome sequence presents particular single nucleotide variations. This study provides the first genetic characterisation of CHIKV in Rio de Janeiro and highlights the potential impact of human mobility in the spread of an arthropod-borne virus.
Financial support: CNPq, FAPERJ grants (Project: E-25/010.001558/2014).
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Received 8 January 2016
Accepted 11 March 2016
