New dengue and chikungunya genotypes detected in Argentina: what is the risk?

With more than 30 deaths due to diseases transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, Argentine health authorities identified at least two new genotypes of dengue and chikungunya circulating in the country.

This strain could increase the risk of serious infections.

Amid an exponential increase in registered cases of dengue fever in Argentina, the Ministry of Health warned of new genotypes circulating in the country.

Genotypes are genetic information grouped into serotypes, a form of classification of infectious microorganisms that allows them to be differentiated.

Health authorities reported the detection of Genotype II-Cosmopolitan (serotype 2) in samples studied, demonstrating the introduction of a new subvariant to the country.

Although detected for the first time in Argentina, it is not new in the region, having been reported in Peru in 2019 and Brazil in 2021.

Historically, the DENV-1 genotype (serotype 1) has circulated in Argentina.

In addition, a genotype within serotype 2 (DENV-2) from Southeast Asia had already been detected until 2022.

The finding poses a greater health risk since if a person is infected by one serotype and bitten by a different one, the probability of suffering from severe dengue fever is greater.

The risk even increases if the second infection is caused by serotype 2, according to the Argentine Ministry of Health.

Unlike previous epidemics such as those of 2009, 2016, and 2020, serotype 2 is the one that predominates in the Argentine territory at present, detected in 10 of the 15 jurisdictions affected by this disease.

As for chikungunya, authorities identified for the first time the presence of the ECSA genotype, which refers to Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa, currently predominant in Brazil and Paraguay.

According to the latest epidemiological bulletin, dated April 8, Argentina registered 41,257 cases of dengue and 1,092 of chikungunya, most of which were contracted in the country.

So far, the dengue virus has been identified in 15 jurisdictions and chikungunya in eight.

With information from Sputnik