Co-circulação dos vírus dengue tipos 1 e 3 no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte, 2017-2018

Abstract

Dengue viruses (DENV) are transmitted to humans by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes sp., With Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus being the main vectors. DENV has four antigenically related but distinct serotypes, designated DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4. The objective of this work was to carry out the research of DENV in the municipality of Natal and Metropolitan Region, Rio Grande do Norte, in the period that comprised the years 2017-2018. We studied 146 cases with signs and symptoms suggestive of arbovirus infection. In total, 163 samples were processed including whole blood, serum, urine and / or CSF. Viral RNA from the samples was extracted from the commercial QIAMP Viral Mini Kit kit (QIAGEN, Inc., Valencia, USA) according to the protocol described by the manufacturer. Reverse transcription technique followed by polymerase chain reaction was applied for the detection and typing of DENV. Among the cases studied, DENV infection was confirmed in 31 (21%) cases. Of these, 26 (83%) cases were DENV-1 and 5 (17%) DENV-3. Positive cases presented fever (100%), headache (80.6%), myalgia (58%), arthralgia (54.8%), nausea (41.9%), retroorbital pain skin rash (25.8%) and abdominal pain (16.1%). In conclusion, this study describes the reintroduction of DENV-3 in Rio Grande do Norte, a virus responsible for severe epidemics previously described in Brazil. The co-circulation of DENV-1 and DENV-3 reinforces the importance of monitoring these viruses in humans and vectors in order to develop strategies for the local control of dengue and other arboviruses. As a perspective, additional studies of viral genetic characterization are necessary to understand the origin of circulating DENV-1 and DENV-3 in Rio Grande do Norte in the years 2017 and 2018.