Haemosporidian parasites and emerging arbovirus in Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the Zoological Park of São Paulo

• Grant number: 18/16232-1
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): May 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Karin Kirchgatter Hildebrand
• Grantee: Lilian de Oliveira Guimarães
• Home Institution: Superintendência de Controle de Endemias (SUCEN). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/50345-5 - Institutional development plan in research and technology for surveillance and control of vectors of the Superintendence of Endemic Diseases Control - SUCEN , AP.PDIP

Abstract

Studying avian malaria in the São Paulo Zoo in birds of 17 different orders we showed high positivity of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus among captive, free - living, migrant, endemic or exotic birds. We identified these parasites in 27% of the species of birds analyzed and established their barcoding for the new species of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus characterized. To identify their vectors we performed a one-month pilot study, capturing 2000 mosquitoes from 7 genera, including Culex, Aedes and Anopheles, which are also important vectors of arboviruses. In the São Paulo Zoo, arboviruses have all the necessary conditions for their emergence: there are species of reservoir animals (mainly birds and monkeys), mosquito vectors, the Atlantic Forest, large flow of animals from other localities by migration or transfer between zoos, in addition to the extensive visitation in the world's fourth largest zoo. Thus, in this study we will address the following questions: i) which vector species (Culicidae and Culicoides) are present in the study area? ii) in which vertebrate species do these vectors feed? and (iii) what haemosporidians and arbovirus are infecting these vectors?

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

KIRCHGATTER, KARIN; DE OLIVEIRA GUIMARAES, LILIAN; YANEZ TRUJILLANO, HENRRY HUGO; RAFAEL ARIAS, FERNANDO; GERMAN CACERES, ABRAHAM; RIBEIRO DE CASTRO DUARTE, ANA MARIA; MALAFRONTE, ROSELY DOS SANTOS; TUBAKI, ROSA MARIA; MUREB SALLUM, MARIA ANICE. Phylogeny of Anopheles (Kerteszia) (Diptera: Culicidae) Using Mitochondrial Genes. INSECTS, v. 11, n. 5 MAY 2020. Web of Science Citations: 0.