Aguilar Patricia V, Estrada-Franco Jose G, Navarro-Lopez Roberto, Ferro Cristina, Haddow Andrew D, Weaver Scott C
Center for Tropical Diseases, Institute for Human Infections & Immunity, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
Future Virol. 2011;6(6):721-740. doi: 10.2217/FVL.11.5.
Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) is an emerging infectious disease in Latin America. Outbreaks have been recorded for decades in countries with enzootic circulation, and the recent implementation of surveillance systems has allowed the detection of additional human cases in countries and areas with previously unknown VEE activity. Clinically, VEE is indistinguishable from dengue and other arboviral diseases and confirmatory diagnosis requires the use of specialized laboratory tests that are difficult to afford in resource-limited regions. Thus, the disease burden of endemic VEE in developing countries remains largely unknown, but recent surveillance suggests that it may represent up to 10% of the dengue burden in neotropical cities, or tens-of-thousands of cases per year throughout Latin America. The potential emergence of epizootic viruses from enzootic progenitors further highlights the need to strengthen surveillance activities, identify mosquito vectors and reservoirs and develop effective strategies to control the disease. In this article, we provide an overview of the current status of endemic VEE that results from spillover of the enzootic cycles, and we discuss public health measures for disease control as well as future avenues for VEE research.
委内瑞拉马脑炎（VEE）是拉丁美洲一种新出现的传染病。在有动物疫源性传播的国家，疫情已记录了数十年，最近监测系统的实施使得在以前未知有VEE活动的国家和地区发现了更多人类病例。临床上，VEE与登革热和其他虫媒病毒疾病难以区分，确诊需要使用专门的实验室检测，而在资源有限的地区难以负担。因此，发展中国家地方性VEE的疾病负担在很大程度上仍然未知，但最近的监测表明，它可能占新热带城市登革热负担的10%，或整个拉丁美洲每年数万例病例。动物疫源性祖代病毒可能出现的 epizootic病毒进一步凸显了加强监测活动、识别蚊媒和宿主以及制定有效疾病控制策略的必要性。在本文中，我们概述了由动物疫源循环溢出导致的地方性VEE的现状，并讨论了疾病控制的公共卫生措施以及VEE研究的未来方向。
