title: Causative agent of Pogosta disease isolated from blood and skin lesions.
abstract: Pogosta disease is a mosquito-borne viral disease in Finland, which is clinically manifested by rash and arthritis; larger outbreaks occur in 7-year intervals. The causative agent of the disease has been suspected of being closely related to Sindbis virus (SINV). We isolated SINV from five patients with acute Pogosta disease during an outbreak in fall 2002 in Finland. One virus strain was recovered from a whole blood sample and four other strains from skin lesions. The etiology of Pogosta disease was confirmed by these first Finnish SINV strains, which also represent the first human SINV isolates from Europe. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the Finnish SINV strains are closely related to the viral agents that were previously isolated from mosquitoes and that are related clinically similar diseases in nearby geographic areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. satu.kurkela@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Satu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurkela
authors.forename: Tytti
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Manni
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vaheri
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vapalahti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018354:Alphavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D001769:Blood / Q000821:virology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012845:Sindbis Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*