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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Virus and Host
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1467465
This article is part of the Research Topic Global Excellence in Virology: Latin America View all 5 articles

Detection of Dengue Virus Serotype 4 in Panama after 23 years without circulation

Provisionally accepted
María Chen-Germán María Chen-Germán 1Dimelza Araúz Dimelza Araúz 1Celestino Aguilar Celestino Aguilar 1Melanie Vega Melanie Vega 1Claudia Gonzalez Claudia Gonzalez 1Jessica Góndola Jessica Góndola 1Lourdes Moreno Lourdes Moreno 1Lizbeth Cerezo Lizbeth Cerezo 1Leticia Franco Leticia Franco 2Jairo Mendez-Rico Jairo Mendez-Rico 2Juan Pascale Juan Pascale 1Sandra L. Lopez-Verges Sandra L. Lopez-Verges 1Alexander A. Martinez Alexander A. Martinez 1*Brechla Moreno Brechla Moreno 1*
  • 1 Gorgas Memorial Institute of Health Studies, Panama City, Panama
  • 2 Pan American Health Organization, Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Panama is a country with endemic Dengue virus (DENV) transmission since its reintroduction in 1993. The four serotypes have circulated in the country and the region of the Americas, however, DENV-4 confirmed autochthonous cases have not been identified since 2000, despite its circulation in neighboring countries. Here, we report DENV-4 detection in Panama in the last four-month period of 2023 with co-circulation of other serotypes, this was associated with a peak of dengue cases during the dry season even though most dengue outbreaks are described in the rainy season. Complete genomes of DENV-4 allowed us to determine that cases were caused by DENV-4 genotype IIb, the same genotype as 23 years ago, with high similarity to DENV-4 sequences circulating in Nicaragua and El Salvador during 2023. This report shows the importance of maintaining serotype and genotype surveillance for early detection of new variants circulating in the country. 2017). First dengue sequences began focusing mainly on the E protein (Santiago et al., 2019), however, changes in other parts of the genome could be occurring and not been detected because of the approach (Ladner et al., 2014). Now complete genome sequencing provides reliable and affordable genetic information that can be considered in the design, implementation, and effectiveness of vaccine candidates, in-vivo and in-vitro experiments, and mutations that could increase severity or transmission (Rico-Hesse, 2003;Pang et al., 2017). Thus it is important to strengthen the surveillance programs at regional and national level to have a better understanding of DENV transmission in the Americas.

    Keywords: Dengue Virus, Panama, Arbovirus, surveillance, DENV-4

    Received: 19 Jul 2024; Accepted: 29 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen-Germán, Araúz, Aguilar, Vega, Gonzalez, Góndola, Moreno, Cerezo, Franco, Mendez-Rico, Pascale, Lopez-Verges, Martinez and Moreno. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Alexander A. Martinez, Gorgas Memorial Institute of Health Studies, Panama City, Panama
    Brechla Moreno, Gorgas Memorial Institute of Health Studies, Panama City, Panama

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