Comparative Sequence Analyses of La Crosse Virus Strain Isolated from Patient with Fatal Encephalitis, Tennessee, USA - Volume 21, Number 5—May 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

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Comparative Sequence Analyses of La Crosse Virus Strain Isolated from Patient with Fatal Encephalitis, Tennessee, USA - Volume 21, Number 5—May 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

Volume 21, Number 5—May 2015

Research

Comparative Sequence Analyses of La Crosse Virus Strain Isolated from Patient with Fatal Encephalitis, Tennessee, USA

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Amy J. Lambert , Rebecca Trout Fryxell, Kimberly Freyman, Armando Ulloa, Jason O. Velez, Dave Paulsen, Robert S. Lanciotti, and Abelardo Moncayo

Author affiliations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA (A.J. Lambert, J.O. Velez, R.S. Lanciotti); University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA (R.T. Fryxell, D. Paulsen); Tennessee Department of Health, Nashville, Tennessee, USA (K. Freyman, A. Ulloa, A. Moncayo)

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Abstract

We characterized a La Crosse virus (LACV) isolate from the brain of a child who died of encephalitis-associated complications in eastern Tennessee, USA, during summer 2012. We compared the isolate with LACV sequences from mosquitoes collected near the child’s home just after his postmortem diagnosis. In addition, we conducted phylogenetic analyses of these and other sequences derived from LACV strains representing varied temporal, geographic, and ecologic origins. Consistent with historical findings, results of these analyses indicate that a limited range of LACV lineage I genotypes is associated with severe clinical outcomes.

La Crosse virus (LACV) (family Bunyaviridae, genus Orthobunyavirus) is the primary cause of arthropod-borne viral (arboviral) encephalitis in children in the United States. LACV has a genome of 3 negative-stranded RNA segments (small, medium, and large) and is endemic to forested regions along the Mississippi and Ohio River basins, east of the Rocky Mountains (1–5). These forests provide a habitat for the known principal vector of LACV, Aedes triseriatus mosquitoes.Amplifying hosts include small mammals that develop levels of viremia sufficient to transmit LACV to mosquitoes during the summer months. Human infections occur during the summer and early fall, when humans are at greatest risk for mosquito bites.

In recent years, LACV reportedly has increased above endemic levels in regions of the southeastern United States, including areas of eastern Tennessee (6). The reason for this apparent increase remains unknown; possible causes include a change in transmission dynamics contributed to by invasive vector species or emergence of a relatively virulent strain of LACV in those regions. Confounding a better understanding of the latter, LACV has been historically difficult to isolate from humans. In fact, just 3 human isolates, derived over >50 years, were described in GenBank (accession nos. EF485033–35, EF485030–32, GU206139) before our study began.

We report the multisegment genomic characterization of an LACV strain isolated from the brain of a child who died of encephalitis-associated complications in eastern Tennessee, USA, in July 2012. To the best of our knowledge, this represents only the fourth human isolate of LACV that has been described at the nucleotide sequence level. In addition, we have determined the coding sequences of LACV strains derived from mosquitoes reared from eggs collected within 16 radial kilometers (10 miles) of the child’s home during summer 2012, after the postmortem diagnosis.

Dr. Lambert is a research microbiologist in the Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, CDC. Her research interests include the evolution and global emergence of arthropod-borne bunyaviruses.

Acknowledgments

We thank Shannon Perrin and Jaci and Jerry Fryxell for helping to identify sites for mosquito collection.

Funding was provided in part by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (Hatch project TENN00433).

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Figure

• Figure. Phylogeny of medium segment sequences of selected La Crosse virus strains of varied temporal, geographic, and ecological origin. Taxon descriptions are restricted in some cases according to a limited amount...

Suggested citation for this article: Lambert AJ, Fryxell RT, Freyman J, Ulloa A, Velez JO, Paulsen D, et al. Comparative sequence analyses of La Crosse virus strain isolated from patient with fatal encephalitis, Tennessee, USA. Emerg Infect Dis. 2015 Apr [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2105.141992

DOI: 10.3201/eid2105.141992