ABSTRACT
Investigation of the aetiology of viral meningitis in Brazil is most often restricted to cases that occur in the Southern and Southeastern Regions; therefore, the purpose of this study is to describe the viral meningitis cases that occurred in state of Pará, Northern Brazil, from January 2005-December 2006. The detection of enterovirus (EV) in cerebrospinal fluid was performed using cell culture techniques, RT-PCR, nested PCR and nucleotide sequencing. The ages of the 91 patients ranged from < one year old to > 60 years old (median age 15.90 years). Fever (87.1 percent), headache (77.0 percent), vomiting (61.5 percent) and stiffness (61.5 percent) were the most frequent symptoms. Of 91 samples analyzed, 18 (19.8 percent) were positive for EV. Twelve were detected only by RT- PCR followed by nested PCR, whereas six were found by both cell culture and RT-PCR. From the last group, five were sequenced and classified as echovirus 30 (Echo 30). Phylogenetic analyses revealed that Echo 30 detected in Northern Brazil clustered within a unique group with a bootstrap value of 100 percent and could constitute a new subgroup (4c) according to the phylogenetic tree described by Oberste et al. (1999). This study described the first molecular characterization of Echo 30 in Brazil and this will certainly contribute to future molecular analyses involving strains detected in other regions of Brazil.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Middle Aged , Echovirus Infections/virology , Enterovirus B, Human/isolation & purification , Meningitis, Aseptic/virology , RNA, Viral/analysis , Base Sequence , Brazil/epidemiology , Echovirus Infections/epidemiology , Enterovirus B, Human/classification , Enterovirus B, Human/genetics , Genotype , Molecular Sequence Data , Meningitis, Aseptic/epidemiology , Phylogeny , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain ReactionABSTRACT
This study describes the genetic relationships of the first human astrovirus type-8 (HAstV-8) detected in Belém-Brazil, during a public hospital-based study. This strain was compared with other HAstV-8 strains identified elsewhere which have sequences available at GeneBank. The regions ORF1a (primers Mon348/Mon340) and ORF2 (primers Mon269/Mon270) were analyzed by nucleotide sequencing and a high similarity rate was observed among the Belém strain and other HAstV-8 strains. In ORF1a, homology values of 93-100 por cento were detected, and in ORF2 96-99 por cento. Considering the sequence variation (7 por cento) observed in ORF2 region, it was suggested that HAstV-8 strains could be divided in three different lineages.