About this item:

511 Views | 693 Downloads

Author Notes:

Correspondence: Hector Zambrano hzambrano@jbgye.org.ec

HZ conceived the investigation and supervised the experimental work and data analyses.

LR and JL performed the PCR experiments; JW and BP originally described the ZCD assay and provided the primers and probes for the PCR reactions.

NA and MR revised and analyzed the medical records of the patients.

NA prepared the database with integrated molecular and clinical data.

NA, HZ and JW analyzed the data.

NA, JW and HZ wrote the manuscript.

BP edited the manuscript.

All authors revised and approved the final version.

It is a pleasure to record our gratitude for the assistance extended to us, in the work reported here, by the hospital, laboratory, and administrative staff at Hospital Luis Vernaza for their work in caring for patients described herein.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Subject:

Research Funding:

The Salary support was provided by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant K08AI110528 (JW).

Keywords:

  • Zika virus
  • Guillain-Barré syndrome
  • Meningitis
  • Chikungunya virus
  • Dengue virus
  • Cerebrospinal fluid
  • Molecular diagnosis

Zika Virus, Chikungunya Virus, and Dengue Virus in Cerebrospinal Fluid from Adults with Neurological Manifestations, Guayaquil, Ecuador

Tools:

Journal Title:

Frontiers in Microbiology

Volume:

Volume 8, Number 42

Publisher:

Type of Work:

Article | Final Publisher PDF

Abstract:

Zika virus (ZIKV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and dengue virus (DENV) have been associated with clinical presentations that involve acute neurological complaints. In the current study, we identified ZIKV, CHIKV, and DENV in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients admitted to the Hospital Luis Vernaza (Guayaquil, Ecuador) to the Emergency Room or the Intensive Care Unit, with neurological symptoms and/or concern for acute arboviral infections. Viral RNA from one or more virus was detected in 12/16 patients. Six patients were diagnosed with meningitis or encephalitis, three with Guillain–Barré Syndrome, and one with CNS vasculitis. Two additional patients had a systemic febrile illness including headache that prompted testing of CSF. Two patients, who were diagnosed with encephalitis and meningoencephalitis, died during their hospitalizations. These cases demonstrate the breadth and significance of neurological manifestations associated with ZIKV, CHIKV, and DENV infections.

Copyright information:

©2017 Acevedo, Waggoner, Rodriguez, Rivera, Landivar, Pinsky and Zambrano.

This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Export to EndNote