Neutralizing antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 in stray animals from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a novel Betacoronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) became a public health emergency worldwide. Few reports indicate that owned pets from households with at least one human resident that was diagnosed with COVID-19 can be infected by SARS-CoV-2. However, the exposure to SARS-CoV-2 of pets from households with no COVID-19 cases or stray animals remains less assessed. Using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT90), we investigated the infection and previous exposure of dogs and cats to SARS-CoV-2 during the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From June to August 2020, 96 animals were sampled, including 49 cats (40 owned and 9 stray) and 47 dogs (42 owned and 5 stray). Regarding owned pets, 75.6% (62/82) belonged to households with no COVID-19 cases. Samples included serum, and rectal and oropharyngeal swabs. All swabs were negative for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, but serum samples of a stray cat and a stray dog presented neutralizing antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, with PRNT90 titer of 80 and 40, respectively. Serological data presented here suggest that not only owned pets from households with COVID19 cases, but also stray animals are being exposed to SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic

Zika infection decreases Aedes aegypti locomotor activity but does not influence egg production or viability

Submitted by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2018-07-12T11:39:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ricardo_oliveira_etal_IOC_2018.pdf: 642918 bytes, checksum: 2318904ea236de527d7ed2042dd7b648 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2018-07-12T11:52:39Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ricardo_oliveira_etal_IOC_2018.pdf: 642918 bytes, checksum: 2318904ea236de527d7ed2042dd7b648 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-12T11:52:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ricardo_oliveira_etal_IOC_2018.pdf: 642918 bytes, checksum: 2318904ea236de527d7ed2042dd7b648 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Insetos. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil / Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis. Laboratório de Bioquímica de Insetos Hematófagos. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Insetos. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis. Laboratório de Bioquímica de Insetos Hematófagos. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Insetos. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Mosquitos Transmissores de Hematozoários. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis. Laboratório de Bioquímica de Insetos Hematófagos. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil / Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Médica. CNPQ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Mosquitos Transmissores de Hematozoários. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil / Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Médica. CNPQ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Insetos. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Insetos. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil / Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Médica. CNPQ, Brasil.Zika has emerged as a new public health threat after the explosive epidemic in Brazil in 2015. It is an arboviroses transmitted mainly by Ae. aegypti mosquitoes. The knowledge of physiological, behavioral and biological features in virus-infected vectors may help the understanding of arbovirus transmission dynamics and elucidate their influence in vector capacity. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in the behavior of Ae. aegypti females by analyzing the locomotor activity, egg production and viability. Ae. aegypti females were orally infected with ZIKV through an artificial feeder to access egg production, egg viability and locomotor activity. For egg production and viability assays, females were kept in cages containing an artificial site for oviposition and eggs were counted. No significant difference in the number of eggs laid per females neither in their viability were found between ZIKV infected and non-infected females, regardless the tested pair of mosquito population and virus strain and the gonotrophic cycles. Locomotor activity assays were performed in activity monitors, an average of 5th, 6th and 7th days after infective feeding was calculated and a significant decrease in the locomotor activity in ZIKV infected females was observed. These results suggest that even when mosquitoes are infected with ZIKV, in places where there are many oviposition sites, they are able to maintain the dissemination of the vector population. Besides, the decreased locomotor activity does not seem to influence negatively in ZIKV transmission and may explain case clustering within households reported during Zika outbreaks such as in Rio de Janeiro 2015. High mosquito infestation index and abundant vector breeding sites may also influence this disease transmission