Daniel Limonta

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Virology Researcher at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Rabies vaccination of vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) has been proposed as a superior control method to culling but has yet to be implemented. Success of rabies vaccination depends on a topical vehicle that spreads through a bat colony via allogrooming while additionally preserving vaccine immunogenicity. This work describes the in vitro and in vi...

Oropouche virus (OROV), an arthropod-borne virus, has reemerged in the Americas. In 2023–2024, the largest quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (RT-qPCR)-confirmed outbreak of OROV was reported and was associated with severe clinical outcomes for the first time. Moreover, a dramatic increase in cases is unfolding in early 2025. Here, we provide a...

In early 2024, explosive outbreaks of Oropouche virus (OROV) linked to a novel lineage were documented in the Amazon Region of Brazil. We report the introduction of this lineage into Colombia and its co-circulation with another OROV lineage. Continued surveillance is needed to prevent further spread of OROV in the Americas.

In early 2024, explosive outbreaks of Oropouche virus (OROV) linked to a novel viral lineage were documented in the Brazilian Amazon. Here, we report the introduction of this emerging orthobunyavirus into Colombia and its co-circulation with another OROV lineage. This investigation highlights the complex arbovirus dynamics in South America.

In the present report, we describe two small molecules with broad-spectrum antiviral activity. These drugs block formation of the nodosome. The studies were prompted by the observation that infection of human fetal brain cells with Zika virus (ZIKV) induces expression of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2 (NOD2), a host...

The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) poses a persistent threat to global public health. Although primarily a respiratory illness, extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19 include gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, renal and neurological diseases. Recent studi...

Before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the causative agent of the current COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic [...]

Significance During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, protein engineering offers a rapid and powerful approach for building therapeutics to treat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. We use computational design, affinity maturation, and fusion to dimerization domains to engineer “receptor traps” based on wild-type a...

In the present report, we describe two small molecules with broad-spectrum antiviral activity. These drugs block formation of the nodosome. The studies were prompted by the observation that infection of human fetal brain cells with Zika virus (ZIKV) induces expression of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2 (NOD2), a host...

An essential mechanism for SARS-CoV-1 and -2 infection begins with the viral spike protein binding to the human receptor protein angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2). Here we describe a stepwise engineering approach to generate a set of affinity optimized, enzymatically inactivated ACE2 variants that potently block SARS-CoV-2 infection of cells....

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can result in congenital Zika syndrome which is characterized by microcephaly and other neurodevelopmental disorders. In this chapter, we describe methods to model ex vivo ZIKV infection in astrocytes and tissue explants from human fetal brain. These cell- and tissue-based platforms have been useful to e...

Zika virus (ZIKV) has emerged as an important human pathogen that can cause congenital defects in the fetus and neurological conditions in adults. The interferon (IFN) system has proven crucial in restricting ZIKV replication and pathogenesis. The canonical IFN response is triggered by the detection of viral RNA through RIG-I like receptors followe...

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging pathogen that can cause microcephaly and other neurological defects in developing fetuses. The cellular response to ZIKV in the fetal brain is not well understood. Here, we show that ZIKV infection of human fetal astrocytes (HFAs), the most abundant cell type in the brain, results in elevated expression and secretio...

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging pathogen that can cause microcephaly and other neurological defects in developing fetuses. The cellular response to ZIKV in the fetal brain is not well understood. Here, we show that ZIKV infection of human fetal astrocytes (HFAs), the most abundant cell type in the brain, results in elevated expression and secretio...

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection and persistence during pregnancy can lead to microcephaly and other fetal neurological disorders collectively known as Congenital Zika Syndrome. The immunological and virological events that contribute to the establishment of persistent ZIKV infection in humans are unclear though. Here we show that human fetal astrocytes...

Zika virus is a teratogenic mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that is associated with birth defects in newborns and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. The virus can also be sexually transmitted, but currently, very little is known about the cell types supporting virus replication and persistence in human testes. Using primary cell cultures, we observ...

Una de las obras más completa publicada hasta ahora en idioma español. En ella se recopilan los conocimientos más avanzados acerca del agente causal, el vector, el hospedero y las alteraciones entre ellos, así como la clínica de la enfermedad, la epidemiología, la vigilancia y el diagnóstico de laboratorio, los métodos de prevención y control, el d...

Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne pathogen that is associated with Guillain–Barré syndrome in adults and microcephaly and other neurological defects in newborns. Despite being declared an international emergency by the World Health Organization, comparatively little is known about its biology. Here, we investigate the strategies employed by...

Introduction: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the necessary condition for the occurernce and development of cervical cancer. The high oncogenic risk genotypes are the responsible for this type of neoplasia and the most frequent is HPV 16 that affects roughly 60 % of cases. Commercial kits for HPV detection are expensive for resource-poor co...

Despite being the most significant arboviral disease worldwide, dengue has no antiviral treatment or reliable severity predictors. It has been shown that apoptotic cells from blood and tissues may be involved in the complex pathogenesis of dengue. However, very little is known about the interplay between proapoptotic and antiapoptotic mediators in...

Introduction: dengue is considered to be the most important arthropod-borne human disease worldwide, with an estimated 100 million new cases per year and more than 20 000 deaths. The pathogenesis of severe dengue is not fully understood. However, certain studies have associated it with sequential infections by different viral serotypes, memory T ce...

Introduction: dengue is considered to be the most important arthropod-borne human disease worldwide, with an estimated 100 million new cases per year and more than 20 000 deaths. The pathogenesis of severe dengue is not fully understood. However, certain studies have associated it with sequential infections by different viral serotypes, memory T ce...

Introduction: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the necessary condition for the occurernce and development of cervical cancer. The high oncogenic risk genotypes are the responsible for this type of neoplasia and the most frequent is HPV 16 that affects roughly 60 % of cases. Commercial kits for HPV detection are expensive for resource-poor co...

Background: Microsporidiosis is a life threatening opportunistic infection of AIDS patients. The infection is usually restricted to specific anatomical areas, but could become systemic depending on the involved species. Genital microsporidiosis in female patients is rare. Objective: To report genital microsporidiosis in female AIDS patients. Me...

Dengue virus is the most significant virus transmitted by arthropods worldwide and may cause a potentially fatal systemic disease named dengue hemorrhagic fever. In this work, dengue virus serotype 4 was detected in the tissues of one fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever case using electron immunomicroscopy and molecular methods. This is the first report...

An outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis occurred in Cuba in 2008 and 2009. To determinate the etiological agent associated with the Cuban outbreaks of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis during 2008 and 2009. Conjunctival swabs and/or faecal samples from 382 patients with clinical diagnosis suggestive of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis were s...

UNLABELLED: / BACKGROUND: Dengue is the most important arthropod borne viral disease worldwide in terms of morbidity and mortality and is caused by any of the four serotypes of dengue virus (DENV-1 to 4). Brazil is responsible for approximately 80% of dengue cases in the Americas, and since the introduction of dengue in 1986, a total of 5,944,270 c...

Good alternatives to the Impact Factor (IF) algorithm are needed. The Thomson IF represents a limited measure of the importance of an individual article because 80% of a journal's IF is determined by only the 20% of the papers published. In the past few years, several new indexes has been created to provide alternatives to the IF algorithm. These i...

Dengue is considered the most important arthropod-borne viral disease in humans and is caused by any of the four dengue virus (DENV-1-4) serotypes. DENV may cause the potentially fatal disease named dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS). Although apoptosis has been implicated in DHF/DSS pathogenesis, the in vivo mechanisms have n...

Although dengue virus (DEN) endemic regions overlap with human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV) high incidence areas, little has been documented on HIV and DEN mixed infection. Here we report DEN/HIV concurrent infections recorded during the DEN-3 epidemic in 2001-2002 in Havana. Serologic-confirmed DEN is described in two HIV-infected subjects with...

Dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS) are considered the most important arthropod-borne viral diseases in terms of morbidity and mortality. The emergency and severity of dengue (Den) infections increase the necessity of an early, quick and effective dengue laboratory diagnostic. Viral isolation is considered...

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, has been implicated in dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS) pathogenesis. To determine the in vivo apoptosis contribution to the pathogenesis of fatal DHF/DSS during a Cuban dengue epidemic. We detected apoptosis by the TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) technique and dengue virus (D...

The clinical course of patients with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) is often worsened by the presence of cerebral edema and endocranial hypertension. In spite of the multiple studies using Transcranial Doppler Sonography (TCDS), few have shown the cerebral blood flow (CBF) pattern among patients with encephalopathy resulting from FHF. Our objectiv...