Re-emergence of mayaro virus and coinfection with chikungunya during an outbreak in the state of Tocantins/Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To perform a molecular screening to detect infections by the mayaro virus and possible coinfections with Chikungunya during an outbreak in the state of Tocantins/Brazil in 2017. Results: Of a total 102 samples analyzed in this study, 6 cases were identified with simultaneous infection between mayaro and chikungunya viruses (5.88%). In these 6 samples, the mean Cycle threshold (Ct) for CHIKV was 26.87 (SD ± 10.54) and for MAYV was 29.58 (SD ± 6.34). The mayaro sequences generated showed 95–100% identity to other Brazilian sequences of this virus and with other MAYV isolates obtained from human and arthropods in different regions of the world. The remaining samples were detected with CHIKV monoinfection (41 cases), DENV monoinfection (50 cases) and coinfection between CHIKV/DENV (5 cases). We did not detect MAYV monoinfections.