Molecular Detection of Dengue Virus, Zika Virus, and Chikungunya Virus Arboviruses in Neotropical Bats.

Background: The dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya arboviruses have spread in America in the past year, thus becoming global health issues. These viruses are maintained in nature in two transmission cycles: an urban cycle, transmitted from hematophagous mosquitoes to humans, and a wild cycle, recorded only in Africa and Asia, involving mosquitoes and nonhuman primates as natural hosts. The evidence shows that these arboviruses infect other wild mammals in America, such as rodents, marsupials, and bats. This study aimed to determine the potential natural infection of arboviruses in bats captured in contrasting sites (tropical forests, urban areas, and caves) in Oaxaca, Mexico. Materials and Methods: Liver samples were collected from some bats and tested for RNA from dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya with the quantitative real-time PCR assay. We analyzed 162 samples that encompassed 23 bat species. Results: No natural infection with any of the three arboviruses was detected in any sample tested. Conclusion: The existence of a wild cycle of the three arboviruses in the American continent is not ruled out. However, owing to the low or zero prevalence recorded in other studies and the present study, bats are likely involved in the arbovirus transmission cycle as accidental hosts.

Molecular diagnosis of microbial copathogens with influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Oaxaca, Mexico.

BACKGROUND: Multiple factors have been associated with the severity of infection by influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. These include H1N1 cases with proven coinfections showing clinical association with bacterial contagions. PURPOSE: The objective was to identify H1N1 and copathogens in the Oaxaca (Mexico) population. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 2009 to 2012. A total of 88 study patients with confirmed H1N1 by quantitative RT-PCR were recruited. METHODS: Total nucleic acid from clinical samples of study patients was analyzed using a TessArray RPM-Flu microarray assay to identify other respiratory pathogens. RESULTS: High prevalence of copathogens (77.3%; 68 patients harbored one to three pathogens), predominantly from Streptococcus, Haemophilus, Neisseria, and Pseudomonas, were detected. Three patients (3.4%) had four or five respiratory copathogens, whereas others (19.3%) had no copathogens. Copathogenic occurrence with Staphylococcus aureus was 5.7%, Coxsackie virus 2.3%, Moraxella catarrhalis 1.1%, Klebsiella pneumoniae 1.1%, and parainfluenza virus 3 1.1%. The number of patients with copathogens was four times higher to those with H1N1 alone (80.68% and 19.32%, respectively). Four individuals (4.5%; two males, one female, and one infant) who died due to H1N1 were observed to have harbored such copathogens as Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Haemophilus, and Neisseria. CONCLUSION: In summary, copathogens were found in a significant number (>50%) of cases of influenza in Oaxaca. Timely detection of coinfections producing increased acuity or severity of disease and treatment of affected patients is urgently needed.