Tonate Virus and Fetal Abnormalities, French Guiana, 2019
Véronique Lambert, Antoine Enfissi, Mathilde Lefebvre, Léo Pomar, Sobhi Kedous, Fabien Guimiot, Gabriel Carles, Anne Lavergne, Dominique Rousset, Najeh Hcini
Abstract
V enezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) complex viruses consist of antigenically related arboviruses widely distributed throughout the Americas (1). Only subtype I varieties AB and C cause severe equine epizootics and human outbreaks marked by the occurrence of encephalitis and fetal damage (2). The other subtypes are endemic in small areas of South America (3). In 1973, subtype III-B, the Tonate virus (TONV), was isolated in birds from French Guiana (4). It has since been found in neighboring countries and in South Dakota and Colorado in the United States (5, The wild cycle of TONV is still poorly understood. Transmission by Culicidae insects has been observed during the rainy season (4). Birds and bats are the only identifi ed vertebrate hosts (7). In humans in French Guiana, TONV seroprevalence suggests endemic transmission, particularly along the coast of the Bas Maroni region (8). However, clinical descriptions remain scarce, and no adverse pregnancy outcomes or vertical transmission have been reported (9,10). We report a case of vertical transmission of TONV from a pregnant woman to her fetus and describe ultrasonographic and fetopathological fi ndings.