Mosquito species identification, blood meal and virus detection using Oxford Nanopore technologies' (MinION) in a YF transmission scenario

• Grant number: 19/12988-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2019
• End date: July 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Agreement: MRC, UKRI ; Newton Fund, with FAPESP as a partner institution in Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Ester Cerdeira Sabino
• Grantee: André Luis Acosta
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/14389-0 - Brazil-UK Centre for Arbovirus Discovery, Diagnosis, Genomics and Epidemiology (CADDE), AP.TEM

Abstract

The Yellow Fever Virus (YFV) is transmitted by the bites of infective mosquitoes. The Yellow Fever liveattenuated, YFV-17D vaccine is efficient, however, the disease still threatens the public health in tropical areas of Africa and South America (Klitting et al. 2018), particularly Brazil. In South America, the YFV circulates in sylvatic enzootic cycles maintained in non-human primates and forest-dwelling mosquitoes, primarily of the genera Haemagogus and Sabethes, including Haemagogus albomaculatus, Haemagogus spegazzini, Haemagogus janthinomys, Sabethes·chloropterus, Sabethes·albipivus, Sabethes·glaucodaemon, Sabethes·soperi, and Sabethes·cyaneus (Forattini 2002, Hanley et al. 2014). It is noteworthy that the ecology of transmission of the YFV is dynamics, and the virus is dispersing to other geographical areas with involvement of species that were not traditionally been considered vector. Such is the case of Psorophora ferox, Aedes serratus and Haemagogus leucocelaenus that was found naturally infected with YFV genotype I during the 2008 epidemics that strongly affected northwest regions of Rio Grande do Sul (Cardoso et al. 2010). In Brazil, the YFV circulates in three endemic zones: (1) endemic, (2) transitional, (3) epidemicity. In the endemic zone, the YFV circulates in monkey populations and sylvatic mosquitoes with rare human cases. In the transitional zone, the contact between humans, monkeys and infective mosquitoes is frequent. In the epidemicity zone, the presence of susceptible human population extensively exposed to the most competent urban vector, Aedes aegypti aegypti mosquito, increases the risk of epidemics once the pathogen is introduced in the environment (Vasconcelos et al. 2004). Considering the major global health emergencies of mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya (WHO 2017), and the extensive re-emergence of yellow fever in Africa and South America, the development of novel technology for accurate and rapid mosquito vector species identification, in addition to the precise identification of the vertebrate blood source and virus reservoir are of fundamental importance for understanding the epidemiology of the disease, monitoring epidemic and designing robust and effective control measures for vector-borne diseases, including yellow fever

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)

ANDRE LUIS ACOSTA; FERNANDO XAVIER; LEONARDO SUVEGES MOREIRA CHAVES; ESTER CERDEIRA SABINO; ANTONIO MAURO SARAIVA; MARIA ANICE MUREB SALLUM. Interfaces à transmissão e spillover do coronavírus entre florestas e cidades. Estudos avançados, v. 34, n. 99, p. 191-208, 2020-07-10. (19/12988-7)

LI, SABRINA L.; ACOSTA, ANDRE L.; HILL, SARAH C.; BRADY, OLIVER J.; DE ALMEIDA, MARCO A. B.; CARDOSO, JADER DA C.; HAMLET, ARRAN; MUCCI, LUIS F.; DE DEUS, JULIANA TELLES; IANI, FELIPE C. M.; et al. apping environmental suitability of Haemagogus and Sabethes spp. mosquitoes to understand sylvatic transmission risk of yellow fever virus in Brazi. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, v. 16, n. 1, JAN 2022. (18/14389-0, 19/12988-7)