Detection of hantavirus in bats from remaining rain forest in São Paulo, Brazil

Background\ud The significant biodiversity found in Brazil is a potential for the emergence of new zoonoses. Study in some places of the world suggest of the presence to hantavirus in tissues of bats. Researches of hantavirus in wildlife, out rodents, are very scarce in Brazil. Therefore we decided to investigate in tissues of different species of wild animals captured in the same region where rodents were detected positive for this virus. The present work analyzed ninety-one animals (64 rodents, 19 opossums, and 8 bats) from a region of the Atlantic forest in Biritiba Mirin City, São Paulo State, Brazil. Lungs and kidneys were used for RNA extraction.\ud \ud Findings\ud The samples were screened for evidence of hantavirus infection by SYBR-Green-based real-time RT-PCR. Sixteen samples positive were encountered among the wild rodents, bats, and opossums. The detection of hantavirus in the lungs and kidneys of three marsupial species (Micoureus paraguayanus, Monodelphis ihering, and Didelphis aurita) as well in two species of bats (Diphylla ecaudata and Anoura caudifer) is of significance because these new hosts could represent an important virus reservoirs.This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo - FAPESP. The field support and animals identification was made at Museum of Zoology, Universidade de Sao Paulo, USP and Universidade Bandeirante, UNIBAN, Brazil

Surveillance of West Nile virus in Brazil.

O Vírus do Nilo Ocidental, do inglês West Nile virus (WNV) é um patógeno emergente que é amplamente distribuído na América do Norte e Central. A recente introdução na América do Sul chamou a atenção para a propagação do WNV em países Latino Americanos. O ciclo de transmissão envolve mosquitos, pássaros, cavalos e seres humanos. A avaliação sorológica realizada nestes estudo foi composta por 678 soros de equídeos e 478 soros de aves, realizada por meio do ensaio ELISA de bloqueio específico para WNV e somente as amostras com resultados positivos foram confirmadas por testes de neutralização por redução em placas (PRNTs). A análise molecular foi realizada em soros de 1.241 equídeos saudáveis e em 63 macerados de cérebros de equídeos que morreram de encefalite e obtiveram resultados previamente negativos para outros patógenos. Também testamos swabs de 3.445 aves pelo método molecular, além de amostras de 24 morcegos e 11 onças. As amostras analisadas foram coletadas em diferentes biomas do Brasil. Identificamos pelo ELISA anticorpos para o WNV em treze equídeos e cinco pássaros e o teste de PRNT90 confirmou positividade para o WNV em quatro amostras de equídeos coletadas em 2009 em uma região entre a Amazônia e o Pantanal. Nenhuma das amostras de aves positivas pelo ELISA foram confirmadas por PRNT90. Das 4.784 amostras testadas por RT-PCR, penas duas apresentaram resultados positivos para a detecção, sendo uma ave residente na região do Pantanal e um anatídeo na região do Maranhão, respectivamente. A circulação do WNV é confirmada pela presente pesquisa em larga escala, mesmo na ausência da detecção de casos clínicos.West Nile virus (WNV) is an emergent pathogen that is widely distributed in North and Central America. The recent introduction in South America has focused attention on the spread of WNV across Southern American countries. The transmission network involves mosquitoes, birds, horses and humans. The serological evaluation of sera from 678 equids and 478 birds was performed using a WNV-specific blocking ELISA, and only the positive results were confirmed by plaque reduction neutralisation tests (PRNTs). Molecular analysis was performed on sera from 1241 healthy equids and on 63 macerates of brains from equids that died of encephalitis and had previously tested negative for other pathogens. We also tested swabs from 3.445 birds, 24 bats and 11 phanteras. The samples analysed were collected in different biomes of Brazil. We identified WNV antibodies by ELISA in thirteen equids and five birds, and PRNT90 confirmed WNV positivity in four equid samples collected in 2009 in an area between the Amazon and the Pantanal. None of the ELISA positive bird samples were confirmed by PRNT90. Of the 4.784 samples tested by RT-PCR, only two were positive for the detection, a resident bird in the Pantanal region and a duck in the region of Maranhão, respectively. WNV circulation is confirmed by this large scale survey even in the absence of detection of clinical cases

Serological Survey of Hantavirus in Inhabitants from Tropical and Subtropical Areas of Brazil

Brazil has reported more than 1,600 cases of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HPS) since 1993, with a 39% rate of reported fatalities. Using a recombinant nucleocapsid protein of Araraquara virus, we performed ELISA to detect IgG antibodies against hantavirus in human sera. The aim of this study was to analyze hantavirus antibody levels in inhabitants from a tropical area (Amazon region) in Rondônia state and a subtropical (Atlantic Rain Forest) region in São Paulo state, Brazil. A total of 1,310 serum samples were obtained between 2003 and 2008 and tested by IgG-ELISA, and 82 samples (6.2%), of which 62 were from the tropical area (5.8%) and 20 from the subtropical area (8.3%), tested positive. Higher levels of hantavirus antibody were observed in inhabitants of the populous subtropical areas compared with those from the tropical areas in Brazil