Dengue Virus, Tanzania and Côte d'Ivoire | CDC EID

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Volume 16, Number 11–November 2010
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Importation of Dengue Virus Type 3 to Japan from Tanzania and Côte d'Ivoire

Meng Ling Moi, Tomohiko Takasaki, Comments to Author Akira Kotaki, Shigeru Tajima, Chang-Kweng Lim, Mitsuo Sakamoto, Hajime Iwagoe, Kenichiro Kobayashi, and Ichiro Kurane
Author affiliations: National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan (M.L. Moi, T. Takasaki, A. Kotaki, S. Tajima, C.-K. Lim, I. Kurane); Kawasaki Municipal Kawasaki Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan (M. Sakamoto); Kumamoto City Hospital, Kumamoto City, Japan (H. Iwagoe); and Tokyo Metropolitan Bokutoh Hospital, Tokyo (K. Kobayashi)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
Travelers can introduce viruses from disease-endemic to non–disease-endemic areas. Serologic and virologic tests confirmed dengue virus infections in 3 travelers returning to Japan: 2 from Tanzania and 1 from Côte d'Ivoire. Phylogenetic analysis of the envelope gene showed that 2 genetically related virus isolates belonged to dengue virus type 3 genotype III.

Dengue virus (DENV) is an arthropod-borne virus that infects ≈100 million persons each year in Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and Africa. Infection with any 1 of the 4 DENV serotypes causes a wide range of disease, from dengue fever to the more severe dengue hemorrhagic fever. Epidemics of dengue-like illness have occurred in Africa, but information about etiology is limited (1). Transmission of another arthropod-borne virus, chikungunya virus, which causes disease similar to dengue, has been documented in Tanzania. Although Tanzania is on the list of countries at risk for DENV transmission (2), to our knowledge, no DENV isolates have yet been identified and studied there.

In Japan as of June 16, 2010, a total of 50 cases of imported dengue had been reported. Among these cases, 2 were dengue fever that had developed in 2 travelers after they returned from Tanzania. We report the molecular characterization of 2 DENV type 3 (DENV-3) isolates from 1 of the travelers who had visited Tanzania in 2010 and from a traveler who had visited Côte d'Ivoire in 2008.

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Dengue Virus, Tanzania and Côte d'Ivoire | CDC EID

Suggested Citation for this Article

Moi ML, Takasaki T, Kotaki A, Tajima S, Lim C-K, Sakamoto M, et al. Importation of dengue virus type 3 to Japan from Tanzania and Côte d'Ivoire. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2010 Nov [date cited].
http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/11/1770.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1611101061