title: Molecular characterization of two Rocio flavivirus strains isolated during the encephalitis epidemic in São Paulo State, Brazil and the development of a one-step RT-PCR assay for diagnosis.
abstract: Rocio virus (ROCV) was responsible for an explosive encephalitis epidemic in the 1970s affecting about 1,000 residents of 20 coastland counties in São Paulo State, Brazil. ROCV was first isolated in 1975 from the cerebellum of a fatal human case of encephalitis. Clinical manifestations of the illness are similar to those described for St. Louis encephalitis. ROCV shows intense antigenic cross-reactivity with Japanese encephalitis complex (JEC) viruses, particularly with Ilheus (ILHV), St. Louis encephalitis, Murray Valley and West Nile viruses. In this study, we report a specific RT-PCR assay for ROCV diagnosis and the molecular characterization of the SPAn37630 and SPH37623 strains. Partial nucleotide sequences of NS5 and E genes determined from both strains were used in phylogenetic analysis. The results indicated that these strains are closely related to JEC viruses, but forming a distinct subclade together with ILHV, in accordance with results recently reported by Medeiros et al. (2007).
authors.affiliation: Seção de Vírus Transmitidos por Artrópodos, Instituto Adolfo Lutz, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. licoimbra@ial.sp.gov.br
authors.forename: Terezinha Lisieux Moraes
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Coimbra
authors.forename: Raimundo N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Selma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petrella
authors.forename: Teresa Keico
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Nagasse-Sugahara
authors.forename: Silvana Beres
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Castrignano
authors.forename: Cecília L Simões
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000032:analysis; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D005416:Flavivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D018177:Flavivirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; C096041:NS5 protein, flavivirus; D012367:RNA, Viral; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins