Ticks infesting wild small rodents in three areas of the state of São Paulo, Brazil Carrapatos infestando pequenos roedores silvestres em três municípios do estado de São Paulo, Brasil

ABSTRACT From May to September 2011, a total of 138 wild rodents of the Cricetidae family were collected in the cities o

Eficácia terapêutica de RNAs de interferência (siRNAS) e avaliação da resposta imune em camundongos infectados com vírus da raiva de origem de cão e de morcego

Rabies is a lethal infectious disease that kills more than 55 thousand persons per year worldwide although death can be avoided if a post-exposure prophylaxis based in anti-rabies vaccine and immune globulins can be applied on time. After the onset of clinical signs, there is no effective therapy available. Cytokines and chemokines are crucial for host immune response development. This study had as purpose to evaluate the gene expression of cytokines and chemokynes related to the immune response and also to evaluate the efficacy of siRNAs therapy in mice inoculated with dog or bat virus. Results demonstrated that the gene expression profile was intrinsic to virus variant and the precocious production seemed to be more important than their expression levels for rabies survival. Therapy with siRNAs therapy showed no difference in the lethality rate between treated groups and controls but clinical evaluation of animals inoculated with dog variant showed less severity of clinical disease in the treated group compared with control, also associated with a low expression of N gene and of all immune markers evaluated at 5 days. Results provided some evidence of the efficacy of siRNAs therapy in infections due to dog variant but not due to bat variant in the present studyA raiva é uma doença infecciosa letal que mata mais de 55 mil pessoas por ano em todo o mundo, embora a morte possa ser evitada se um tratamento pósexpositivo baseado no uso de vacina anti-rábica e imunoglobulinas for aplicado a tempo. Após o aparecimento dos sinais clínicos, não existe qualquer terapia eficaz disponível. As citocinas e quimiocinas são cruciais no desenvolvimento da resposta imune do hospedeiro. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a expressão gênica de citocinas e quimiocinas relacionadas à resposta imune e também avaliar a eficácia da terapia com siRNAs em camundongos inoculados com virus de cão ou de morcego. Os resultados demonstraram que o perfil de expressão de citocinas e quimiocinas foi intrínseco `a variante viral e a produção precoce destas sugere ser mais importante do que seus níveis de expressão para a sobrevivência na raiva. Em relação à avaliação da terapia com siRNAs, embora nenhuma diferença tenha sido observada na taxa de letalidade entre os grupos tratados e não-tratados, a avaliação clínica de animais inoculados com a variante de cão mostrou menor severidade da doença clínica no grupo tratado quando comparado ao seu controle, associado a uma baixa expressão do gene N e de todos os marcadores imunológicos avaliados aos 5 dias. Os resultados deste estudo forneceram alguma evidência da eficácia da terapia com siRNA em infecções causadas pela variante de cão, a despeito da causada pela variante de morceg

Persistence and dissemination of Vaccinia virus zoonotic infection in central west region of São Paulo State - Brazil

The aim of this study was to describe the persistence and dissemination of Vaccinia Virus (VACV) in Central West region of São Paulo State-Brazil and the zoonotic character of the disease. The work suggests viral circulation and maintenance of VACV by possible wildlife reservoir.O objetivo deste estudo foi descrever a persistência, a disseminação e o caráter zoonótico do vírus Vaccinia (VACV) na região Centro-Oeste do Estado de São Paulo-Brasil. O trabalho sugere a circulação viral e a manutenção do VACV por um possível reservatório em animais silvestres

Evaluation of short-interfering RNAs treatment in experimental rabies due to wild-type virus

We have evaluated the efficacy of short-interfering RNAs targeting the nucleoprotein gene and also the brain immune response in treated and non-treated infected mice. Mice were inoculated with wild-type virus, classified as dog (hv2) or vampire bat (hv3) variants and both groups were treated or leaved as controls. No difference was observed in the lethality rate between treated and non-treated groups, although clinical evaluation of hv2 infected mice showed differences in the severity of clinical disease (p = 0.0006). Evaluation of brain immune response 5 days post-inoculation in treated hv2 group showed no difference among the analyzed genes, whereas after 10 days post-inoculation there was increased expression of 2′,5′-oligoadenylate synthetase 1, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 12, interferon gamma, and C-X-C motif chemokine 10 associated with higher expression of N gene in the same period (p < 0.0001). In hv2 non-treated group only higher interferon beta expression was found at day 5. The observed differences in results of the immune response genes between treated and non-treated groups is not promising as they had neither impact on mortality nor even a reduction in the expression of N gene in siRNA treated animals. This finding suggests that the use of pre-designed siRNA alone may not be useful in rabies treatment. Keywords: Rabies, Dog virus, Bat virus, siRN

Ticks infesting wild small rodents in three areas of the state of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT: From May to September 2011, a total of 138 wild rodents of the Cricetidae family were collected in the cities of Anhembi, Bofete and Torre de Pedra, in São Paulo State. All animals were examined for the presence of ticks, which were collected and identified at species level in the laboratory by morphological examination (for adults, nymphs and larvae) and molecular biology, by sequencing of a fragment of the 16S mitochondrial rDNA (for larvae). A total of 47 ticks (21 larvae and 26 nymphs) were collected from rodents, identified as 21 larvae and 23 nymphs of Amblyomma ovale (collected on Oligoryzomys nigripes , Oligoryzomys flavescens , Sooretamys agouya and Nectomys squamipes ), two nymphs of Ixodes schulzei (O. nigripes and O. flavescens ) and an Amblyomma sculptum nymph in S. agouya . The overall prevalence of parasitism by A. ovale was 4.3% for larvae, and 10.1% for nymphs. The mean intensity of parasitism was 3.5 larvae/parasitized animal, and 1.6 nymphs/parasitized animal. One O. nigripes was found parasitized by both larva and nymph of A. ovale , and another O. nigripes was parasitized simultaneously by an I. schulzei nymph and five A. ovale nymphs. This research reports the following unpublished records: A. ovale on O. flavescens , O. nigripes and S. agouya ; A. sculptum on S. agouya ; and I. schulzei on O. flavescens and O. nigripes

Ciência Rural Ticks infesting wild small rodents in three areas of the state of São Paulo, Brazil Carrapatos infestando pequenos roedores silvestres em três municípios do estado de São Paulo, Brasil

ABSTRACT From May to September 2011, a total of 138 wild rodents of the Cricetidae family were collected in the cities o

Outbreak Control and Clinical, Pathological, and Epidemiological Aspects and Molecular Characterization of a Bovine Herpesvirus Type 5 on a Feedlot Farm in São Paulo State

This paper describes the control, epidemiological, pathological, and molecular aspects of an outbreak of meningoencephalitis in calves due to bovine herpesvirus 5 at a feedlot with 540 animals in Sa (a) over tildeo Paulo State, Brazil. The introduction of new animals and contact between the resident animals and the introduced ones were most likely responsible for virus transmission. Bovine herpesvirus 1 vaccine was used, resulting in the efficacy of the outbreak control, although two bovine herpesvirus 1 positive animals, vaccinated and revaccinated, presented meningoencephalitis, thereby characterizing vaccinal failure