CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) belong to Human Enterovirus species A and is a causative agent of epidemics of hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) as well is associated with severe neurological complications. Based on genetic diversity at VP1 level, EV-A71 is classified into 7 genogroups (A to G), being B and C the most frequently detected. These, are further grouped into different subgenogroups. While the circulation of different variants of EV-A71 is well documented in other parts of the world, the genetic diversity of EV-A71 in the Latin American region has been barely considered. Past studies reported the presence of Genogroup B circulating in Colombia and Brazil in 1994 and 1999, respectively, and subgenogroup C1 in Perú between 2006 and 2009. In 2012, subgenogroup C2 was reported in Cuba. As part of an environmental surveillance of Human Enterovirus in the South American region, sewage samples collected monthly between January 2011 and December 2012 in Córdoba city (Argentina) and in Salto, Paysandú, Fray Bentos and Bella Unión (Uruguay) between March 2011 and February 2012, were retrospectively studied. Sewage samples were concentrated by precipitation with PEG-6000 (Córdoba city) or by an adsorption-elution to a negatively charged membrane method (Uruguayan cities) and viral concentrates were subject to RNA extraction and RT-PCR towards VP1 segment. PCR products were sequenced with Illumina MySeq 300 bp paired-end. Raw reads were subject to different bioinformatics tools, and single sequences were mapped against reference sequences for all the Enterovirus types. Sequences mapped with EV-A71 reference sequences were extracted and studied in depth. Neighbor joining method and Kimura 2-parameters model were used for phylogenetical analysis. Two samples from Córdoba (January 2011 and December 2012), presented reads of EV-A71, as well as a sample from Paysandú (February 2012). Our results indicate that EV-A71 circulated in both countries as subgenogroup C2. Uruguayan reads of EV-A71 were between 2.3% and 6.8% divergent at nt level with Argentinians reads. The reads from samples collected in January 2011 and February 2012 in Argentina and Uruguay, respectively, clustered together with the C2 Cuban strain (8% divergent at nt level). The close genetic relation among Cuban, Argentinian and Uruguayan C2 strains circulating contemporary (2011-2012) would indicate a wide circulation of this variant among the population of Latin American and Caribbean regions.

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