Five cases of Mayaro virus (MAYV) were detected in patients in Amazonas state in northwestern Brazil in 2016, according to a G1 Globo report (computer translated). According to the Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado Tropical Medicine Foundation (FMT-HVD), the five cases were detected in a research project of the institution in partnership with Fiocruz da Amazônia, which began in the year 2015.
The objective was to identify types of virus that cause acute fever syndrome in patients living in three counties in the state. At the time, only one sample from the city of Tefé gave a positive result for the Mayaro virus. In 2016, however, 685 samples of patients who had symptoms of acute fever were collected. Of the cases evaluated, five presented a positive result for Mayaro.
MAYV is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) that can cause Mayaro fever.
Disease may can include 4 days of viremia, a rash that may appear after a 3-5 day fever, headache, photophobia, inguinal lymphadenopathy, myalgia, vomiting, diarrhea and arthralgia, which can affect ankles, wrists and toes and less often, other joints. Joint pain may continue for weeks and maybe very painful.
Disease is clinically similar to that due to primary dengue virus or chikungunya virus infection. MAYV was first described in 1954 after its discovery in in Mayaro County, Trinidad.
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