Joint Study on Dengue Outbreak in São Tomé and Príncipe Published
Collaborative research between Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine and the Laboratório Nacional de Referência da Tuberculose in São Tomé and Príncipe sheds light on the Dengue outbreak in the island state in 2022.
Researchers from the lab group Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) and the Laboratório Nacional de Referência da Tuberculose (LNR-TB) in São Tomé investigated the Denge virus (DENV) outbreak in São Tomé and Príncipe in 2022. The intent was to reconstruct the evolutionary history of its virus strain. By using phylogenomic approach, they found that the outbreak was caused by DENV serotype 3 genotype III. This is a strain closely related to a new American lineage. The finding indicates a probable introduction of the virus from the Americas to São Tomé and Príncipe. It highlights the importance of genomic surveillance of DENV in countries at risk for future outbreaks.
The study was jointly published in the peer-review journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Lázaro, L., Winter, D., Toancha, K., Borges, A., Gonçalves, A., Santos, A., do Nascimento, M., Teixeira, N., Sacramento Sequeira, Y., Lima, A. K., da Costa Pina, B., Batista de Sousa, A., May, J., Afonso Neto, R. M. & Schuldt, K. 2024. Phylogenomics of Dengue Virus Isolates Causing Dengue Outbreak, São Tomé and Príncipe, 2022. Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol.30 (2) – Research Letter: 384-386. DOI: 10.3201/eid3002.231316.
