Vector Competence of Aedes albopictus for Yellow Fever Virus: Risk of Reemergence of Urban Yellow Fever in Brazil.

The risk of the emergence and reemergence of zoonoses is high in regions that are under the strong influence of anthropogenic actions, as they contribute to the risk of vector disease transmission. Yellow fever (YF) is among the main pathogenic arboviral diseases in the world, and the Culicidae Aedes albopictus has been proposed as having the potential to transmit the yellow fever virus (YFV). This mosquito inhabits both urban and wild environments, and under experimental conditions, it has been shown to be susceptible to infection by YFV. In this study, the vector competence of the mosquito Ae. albopictus for the YFV was investigated. Female Ae. albopictus were exposed to non-human primates (NHP) of the genus Callithrix infected with YFV via a needle inoculation. Subsequently, on the 14th and 21st days post-infection, the legs, heads, thorax/abdomen and saliva of the arthropods were collected and analyzed by viral isolation and molecular analysis techniques to verify the infection, dissemination and transmission. The presence of YFV was detected in the saliva samples through viral isolation and in the head, thorax/abdomen and legs both by viral isolation and by molecular detection. The susceptibility of Ae. albopictus to YFV confers a potential risk of reemergence of urban YF in Brazil.

Vector Competence of Culex quinquefasciatus from Brazil for West Nile Virus.

West Nile virus is characterized as a neurotropic pathogen, which can cause West Nile fever and is transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Culex. In 2018, the Instituto Evandro Chagas performed the first isolation of a WNV strain in Brazil from a horse brain sample. The present study aimed to evaluate the susceptibility of orally infected Cx. quinquefasciatus from the Amazon region of Brazil to become infected and transmit the WNV strain isolated in 2018. Oral infection was performed with blood meal artificially infected with WNV, followed by analysis of infection, dissemination, and transmission rates, as well as viral titers of body, head, and saliva samples. At the 21st dpi, the infection rate was 100%, the dissemination rate was 80%, and the transmission rate was 77%. These results indicate that Cx. quinquefasciatus is susceptible to oral infection by the Brazilian strain of WNV and may act as a possible vector of the virus since it was detected in saliva from the 21st dpi.

First Description of the Mitogenome and Phylogeny of Culicinae Species from the Amazon Region.

The Culicidae family is distributed worldwide and comprises about 3587 species subdivided into the subfamilies Anophelinae and Culicinae. This is the first description of complete mitochondrial DNA sequences from Aedes fluviatilis, Aedeomyia squamipennis, Coquillettidia nigricans, Psorophora albipes, and Psorophora ferox. The mitogenomes showed an average length of 15,046 pb and 78.02% AT content, comprising 37 functional subunits (13 protein coding genes, 22 tRNAs, and two rRNAs). The most common start codons were ATT/ATG, and TAA was the stop codon for all PCGs. The tRNAs had the typical leaf clover structure, except tRNASer1. Phylogeny was inferred by analyzing the 13 PCGs concatenated nucleotide sequences of 48 mitogenomes. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analysis placed Ps. albipes and Ps. ferox in the Janthinosoma group, like the accepted classification of Psorophora genus. Ae. fluviatilis was placed in the Aedini tribe, but was revealed to be more related to the Haemagogus genus, a result that may have been hampered by the poor sampling of Aedes sequences. Cq. nigricans clustered with Cq. chrysonotum, both related to Mansonia. Ae. squamipennis was placed as the most external lineage of the Culicinae subfamily. The yielded topology supports the concept of monophyly of all groups and ratifies the current taxonomic classification.

Novas evidências sobre o valor diagnóstico da reação de imunofluorescência indireta e reação intradérmica de hipersensibilidade tardia na infecção humana por Leishmania (L) infantum chagasi na Amazônia, Brasil / New evidences on the diagnostic value of indirect immunofluorescence test and delayed hypersensitivity skin test in human infection by Leishmania (L ) infantum chagasi in the Amazon, Brazil

Estudo prospectivo realizado no período de maio/2006-setembro/2008, numa coorte de 1.099 indivíduos, ambos os sexos, com idades de 1 a 84 anos (média 24, 4 anos), residente em área endêmica de leishmaniose visceral americana (LVA) no Município de Cametá, Pará, Brasil, objetivando analisar a prevalência e a incidência da infecção humana por Leishmania (L.) infantum chagasi, assim como a dinâmica da evolução dos seus perfis clínico-imunológicos previamente definidos: 1. Infecção assintomática (IA); 2. Infecção sintomática (IS=LVA); 3. Infecção subclínica oligossintomática (ISO); 4. Infecção subclínica resistente (ISR); e 5. Infecção inicial indeterminada (III). O diagnóstico da infecção baseou-se no uso simultâneo da reação de imunofluorescência indireta (RIFI) e reação intradérmica de hipersensibilidade tardia. Um total de 304 casos da infecção foi diagnosticado no período do estudo (187 na prevalência e 117 na incidência), gerando prevalência acumulada de 27,6 por cento, cuja distribuição no âmbito dos perfis clínico-imunológicos foi da seguinte ordem: IA 51,6 por cento, III 22,4 por cento, ISR 20,1 por cento, ISO 4,3 por cento e, IS (=LVA) 1,6 por cento. Com base na dinâmica da infecção, o principal achado recaiu no perfil III, que teve papel fundamental na evolução da infecção, dirigindo-a ora para o pólo imunológico de resistência, perfis ISR (21 casos - 30,8 por cento) e IA (30 casos - 44,1 por cento), ora para o polo imunológico de susceptibilidade, perfil IS (um caso -1,5 por cento); além destes, 16 casos mantiveram o perfil III até o fim do estudo. Concluiu-se que esta abordagem diagnóstica pode ajudar no monitoramento da infecção na área endêmica, visando, principalmente, prevenir a morbidade da LVA, assim como reduzir o tempo e despesas com o tratamento.

This is a prospective study on a cohort of 1099 individuals of both genders, aged 1-84 years (mean 24.4 years), living in an endemic area of American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL) in the Municipality of Cametá, Brazil, from May 2006 to September 2008. It aimed to analyze the prevalence and incidence rates of human infection by Leishmania (L.) infantum chagasi, as well as the evolutional process of its previously defined clinical and immunological profiles: 1. Asymptomatic infection (AI);2. Symptomatic infection (SI = AVL); 3. Subclinical oligosymptomatic infection (SOI); 4. Subclinical resistant infection (SRI); and 5. Indeterminate initial infection (III). The diagnosis was based on the simultaneous use of indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and delayed hypersensitivity skin test. A total of 304 cases of infection were diagnosed during the period studied(187 for prevalence and 117 for incidence), generating an accumulated prevalence rate of 27.6 percent. The distribution regarding their clinical and immunological profiles presented the following order: AI 51.6 percent; III 22.4 percent; SRI 20.1 percent; SOI4.3 percent; and SI (= AVL) 1.6 percent. Based on the dynamics of the infection, the main discovery was about the III profile, which had an instrumental role in its evolution, directing it either to the resistant immunological pole – SRI (21 cases - 30.8 percent) and AI (30 cases - 44.1 percent) profiles – or to the susceptible immunological pole – SI (1 case - 1.5 percent) profile. In addition, 16 cases remained within the III profile until the end of the study. It was concluded that this diagnostic approach can help monitor the infection in endemic areas, aiming mainly at preventing morbidity caused by AVL, and reducing the treatment time and expenses.