Reemergence of vaccinia virus during Zoonotic outbreak, Pará State, Brazil

Abstract

In 2010, vaccinia virus caused an outbreak of bovine vaccinia that affected dairy cattle and rural workers in Pará State, Brazil. Genetic analyses identified the virus as distinct from BeAn58058 vaccinia virus (identified in 1960s) and from smallpox vaccine virus strains. These findings suggest spread of autochthonous group 1 vaccinia virus in this region.

Keywords: Amazon Region; Brazil; Pará State; orthopoxvirus; reemergence; vaccinia virus; viruses; zoonoses.

Figure 1

Bom Jesus do Tocantins County (black) in Pará State (gray), Brazil, where an outbreak of bovine vaccinia occurred in 2010.

Figure 2

Exanthematic lesions caused by vaccinia virus (VACV) infection during this outbreak. A) Vesicular lesion on milker’s finger that advanced to an ulcerative stage. B and D) Typical lesions on teats and udder of a dairy cow infected by VACV at different stages, ranging from ulceration to scabs. C) Lesions on a calf’s muzzle probably caused by VACV infection during suckling.

Figure 3

Phylogenetic trees based on orthopoxvirus nucleotide sequences of A56R (A) and A26L (B) genes of vaccinia virus (VACV), Pará State, Brazil. Pará virus (PARV) clusters with VACV group 1 from Brazil. Phylogenetic analysis showed that PARV (black dots) clustered in the VACV-BR-G1 clade and that BeAN58058 virus (BAV) clustered in the VACV-BR-G2 clade. A26L sequence was obtained only from PARV. Trees were constructed by using the neighbor-joining method, the Tamura-Nei model of nucleotide substitutions, and bootstrap of 1,000 replicates in MEGA version 4.0 software (Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA). In panel A, BAV is shown in boldface. GenBank accession numbers are indicated in parentheses. Values along the branches indicate bootstrap values. Scale bars indicate nucleotide substitutions per site. GP2V, Guarani P2 virus; MURV, Muriae virus; CTGV, Cantagalo virus; CARV, Carangola virus; MARV, Mariana virus; ARAV, Araçatuba virus; HSPV, horsepox virus; GP1V, Guarani P1 virus; MPXV, monkeypox virus; PSTV, Passatempo; CPXV, cowpox virus; VARV, variola virus.