Preliminary studies: new strain/virus of the Alphavirus genus detected in Psorophora spp. (Diptera: Culicidae) collected in the Chaco province, Argentina

STECHINA OS; TORRES C; ORIA GI; CONTIGIANI M; STEIN M

Workshop; GNATwork International Workshop Brazil '19; 2019

GNATWork

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are important emerging and re-emerging pathogens that cause disease in humans and animals. They are a taxonomic diverse group and some of the members of medical-veterinary importance belong to the genus Alphavirus (Togaviridae). In the Americas, the members of the genus responsible for outbreaks in humans and epizootics in horses belong to the eastern (EEE), western (WEE) and Venezuelan (VEE) equine encephalitis complex. In Argentina, several epizootics by EEE, WEE and VEE have been reported on the beginning of the 20th century. In the Chaco province, the three complexes have a history of circulation and were isolated and/or detected in humans, mosquitoes and rodents. In the present study, Psorophora spp. mosquitoes (API28) werepositive to molecular alphavirus detection and the phylogenetic analysis showed that the API28 fragment amplified was grouped with a very low bootstrap in the VEEV complex. Our results show an uncertain position of the API28 within the VEEV complex and this could suggest the possibility of a new strain or virus not currently described. However, is necessary to amplify a larger region for a more detailed phylogenetic analysis to provide information about genetic relatedness of the alphavirus present in mosquitoes collected in Chaco province (Argentina)