Detection of Saint Louis encephalitis virus in dengue-suspected cases during a dengue 3 outbreak

Arboviruses are frequently associated with outbreaks in humans and represent a serious public health problem. Among the Brazilian arboviruses, Mayaro virus, Dengue virus (DENV), Yellow Fever virus, Rocio virus, Saint Louis Encephalitis virus (SLEV), and Oropouche virus are responsible for most of human cases. All these arboviruses usually produce undistinguishable acute febrile illness, especially in the acute phase of infection. In this study we investigated the presence of arboviruses in sera of 519 patients presenting acute febrile illness, during a dengue outbreak in São José do Rio Preto City (São Paulo, Brazil). A multiplex-nested RT-polymerase chain reaction assay was applied to detect and identify the main Brazilian arboviruses (Flavivirus, Alphavirus, and Orthobunyavirus genera). The molecular analysis showed that 365 samples were positive to DENV-3, 5 to DENV-2, and 8 to SLEV. Among the positive samples, one coinfection was detected between DENV-2 and DENV-3. The phylogenetic analysis of the SLEV envelope gene indicated that the virus circulating in city is related to lineage V strains. These results indicated that during that large DENV-3 outbreak in 2006, different arboviruses cocirculated causing human disease. Thus, it is necessary to have an efficient surveillance system to control the dissemination of these arboviruses in the population.