title: Letter to the editor: molecular genotyping of Dengue Virus Types 2 and 4 from the Guatemalan and Honduran Epidemics of 2007 using the envelope glycoprotein gene.
abstract: Eight serum specimens collected from dengue patients in Guatemala and Honduras during the Central American epidemic of 2007 were analyzed. Virus identification and serotyping performed by a nested RT-PCR assay revealed two DENV-1 isolates from Guatemala, four DENV-2 isolates, two each from Guatemala and Honduras, and two DENV-4 isolates from Honduras. Viral genotyping determined by phylogenetic analysis of the complete envelope gene sequences demonstrated that the DENV-2 isolates from Guatemala and Honduras fell into the American/Asian Genotype III, and were most closely related to DENV-2/NI/BID-V2683-1999 isolated from a dengue case in Nicaragua in 1999; and the DENV-4 F07-076 isolate from Honduras belonged to genotype II, and was most closely related to DENV-4/US/BID-V1093/1998 isolated from Puerto Rico in 1998. Our results suggest that the 2007 dengue outbreaks in Guatemala and Honduras were most likely caused by the re-emergence of earlier, indigenous DENV strains rather than by newly introduced strains and there were at least three serotypes of DENV co-circulating during the 2007 Central American epidemics.
authors.affiliation: Division of Viral Diseases, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.
authors.forename: Yuxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Quintana
authors.forename: Chunlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sauls
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Putnak
authors.forename: Sofía Carolina
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Alvarado
authors.forename: Dina Jeaneth
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: María Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Matute
authors.forename: Julia A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lynch
mesh_terms: D003715:Dengue / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000235:genetics*; D058872:Epidemics; D005838:Genotype; D006166:Guatemala / Q000453:epidemiology; D006721:Honduras / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C051821:E-glycoprotein, Dengue virus type 2; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C466981:glycoprotein E, dengue virus type 4