Infections by arbovirus Oropouche, Mayaro, Chikungunya and West Nile Virus in wild birds in the State of São Paulo

• Grant number: 11/20447-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Pathology
• Principal Investigator: Eurico de Arruda Neto
• Grantee: Eliane de Sousa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 08/50617-6 - Studies on emerging viruses including arbovirus, robovirus, respiratory viruses and congenital transmission, at the Centro de Pesquisa em Virologia da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, AP.TEM

Abstract

Arboviruses are zoonotic RNA viruses in the families Togaviridae, Flaviviridae, Bunyaviridae, Reoviridae and Rhabdoviridae, transmitted in nature in complex cycles that include arthropod vectors. The emergence and reemergence of arboviruses are related with such complex variables as high mutation rates, natural selection by evolutive bottlenecks happening both in vertebrate and invertebrate natural hosts, followed by adaptation in these species. In the last decades, socioeconomic conditions have favored migration of people from rural to urban areas, without prior development of adequate sanitation. Crowded periphery of these sprawling urban areas is thus subject to intense environmental degradation. All these factors contribute to increase vector populations in urban areas, favoring contact with humans, what has led to arboviral diseases with great impact in public health. While birds are long known as reservoirs of some arboviruses, little is known about their role as reservoirs of arboviruses with potential circulation in Southeast Brazil. Searching for arboviruses in wild and migratory birds in our region carries a great potential to anticipate expansion of circulation of such viruses to other ecological niches. Therefore, the present study aims at searching for the arboviruses Oropouche, Mayaro, Chikungunya and West Nile in free living wild birds subject to necropsy in the Veterinary Pathology Laboratory of the Sao Paulo State University School of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, in Jaboticabal-SP. (AU)