Characterization of Dengue Virus Serotype 2 Cosmopolitan Genotype Circulating in Colombia

• Published in: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene Vol. 109; no. 6; pp. 1298 - 1302
• Main Authors: Ciuoderis, Karl A., Usuga, Jaime, Moreno, Isabel, Perez-Restrepo, Laura S., Flórez, Diana Y., Cardona, Andres, Cloherty, Gavin A., Berg, Michael G., Hernandez-Ortiz, Juan P., Osorio, Jorge E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Institute of Tropical Medicine 06.12.2023; The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
• Subjects: Colombia - epidemiology; Dengue; Dengue fever; Dengue Virus; Epidemiology; Genomes; Genotype; Genotype & phenotype; Health surveillance; Humans; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Serogroup; Short Report; Whole genome sequencing; Colombia
• DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.23-0375
• ISSN: 0002-9637; 1476-1645

Dengue virus (DENV) is the etiological agent of dengue fever (DF), which is among the most prevalent vector-borne diseases in the tropics. In 2022, the Colombian health surveillance system reported more than 69,000 cases of DF. As part of a hospital-based fever surveillance study, acute-phase sera were collected from 4,545 patients with suspected dengue between 2020 and 2023 in three municipalities of Colombia. Combined reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction and antigen rapid testing confirmed that 376 patients (8.3%) had DF. The virus was isolated in cell culture from 166 of these patients (44.1%), and genome sequencing was performed successfully on 122 (73.5%). Three DENV serotypes (1, 2, and 3) were identified. Phylogenetic analyses of the DENV-2 sequences revealed that 42 of 50 of the isolates (84%) belonged to the DENV-2 cosmopolitan genotype lineage, clustering with sequences from Asia, Peru, and Brazil. We report the detection, isolation, and whole-genome sequencing (11 Kb) of the DENV-2 cosmopolitan genotype and its recent introduction to Colombia.