Study of infections by flaviviruses in wild rodents in the northeast of São Paulo state.

Author(s)

Felipe Gonçalves Motta Maia

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB/SDI)
• Defense date: 2018-03-16

Examining board members

Luiz Tadeu Moraes Figueiredo; Edison Luiz Durigon; Gerusa Maria Figueiredo; Ricardo Luiz Moro de Sousa; Eliseu Alves Waldman

• Advisor: Luiz Tadeu Moraes Figueiredo

Abstract

Arboviruses affect hundreds of thousands of people annually in Brazil, leading, many of them, to death. Brazil has one of the largest arbovirus biodiversities in the world, with more than 100 species already isolated and documented. Previous studies have revealed that arbovirus species are circulating in the country veiled in urban, rural and forest areas. The knowledge of aspects of epidemiology and viral biology such as silvatic cycle, range of hosts, seasonality, dissemination, area of occurrence, evolutionary history and genetic diversity, are fundamental for the definition of strategies of prevention and control by public health and epidemiological surveillance agencies. In this sense, we aimed to investigate the occurrence of flavivirus in small wild rodents. For this purpose, we captured these animals in fragments of Cerrado and rural properties located in the cities of Ribeirão Preto, Batatais, Cajuru and Luiz Antônio, in the northeast of the state of São Paulo. Blood samples were collected and subjected to the ELISA-indirect serological assay to detect IgG antibodies against flaviviruses Rocio, West Nile, and Saint Louis Encephalitis. Our method used recombinant peptides corresponding to domain III of the envelope protein of each of these 3 viruses. In addition, we performed RT-PCR with genus-specific and speciesspecific primers for the detection of the flavivirus genome. High seroprevalences were found in several species of rodents captured, for one or more of the viruses tested. This finding supports the hypothesis that these viruses are also capable of infecting small wild mammals, which, in turn, may indicate the existence of new actors in a sustaining silvatic cycle. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/22663-6 - Study of the occurence of arboviroses in wild animals and mosquitoes in Brazilian biomes and agroecosystems
• Grantee: Felipe Gonçalves Motta Maia
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate