TY - JOUR
T1 - West nile virus in Brazil
AU - Costa, Érica Azevedo
AU - Giovanetti, Marta
AU - Catenacci, Lilian Silva
AU - Fonseca, Vagner
AU - Aburjaile, Flávia Figueira
AU - Chalhoub, Flávia L.L.
AU - Xavier, Joilson
AU - de Melo Iani, Felipe Campos
AU - Vieira, Marcelo Adriano da Cunha e.Silva
AU - Henriques, Danielle Freitas
AU - Medeiros, Daniele Barbosa de Almeida
AU - Guedes, Maria Isabel Maldonado Coelho
AU - da Silva Santos, Beatriz Senra Álvares
AU - Silva, Aila Solimar Gonçalves
AU - Maranhão, Renata de Pino Albuquerque
AU - da Costa Faria, Nieli Rodrigues
AU - de Siqueira, Renata Farinelli
AU - de Oliveira, Tulio
AU - Cavalcante, Karina Ribeiro Leite Jardim
AU - de Moura, Noely Fabiana Oliveira
AU - Romano, Alessandro Pecego Martins
AU - de Albuquerque, Carlos F.Campelo
AU - Feitosa, Lauro César Soares
AU - Bayeux, José Joffre Martins
AU - Teixeira, Raffaella Bertoni Cavalcanti
AU - Lobato, Osmaikon Lisboa
AU - Silva, Silvokleio da Costa
AU - de Filippis, Ana Maria Bispo
AU - da Cunha, Rivaldo Venâncio
AU - Lourenço, José
AU - Alcantara, Luiz Carlos Junior
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was founded by CNPq (440685/2016-8, 421598/2018-2), by CAPES (88887.130716/ 2016-00), by the Pan American Health Organization (IOC-007-FEX-19-2-2-30), by the Fundacão Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ, grant number E-26/2002.930/2016 by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under ZIKAlliance Grant Agreement no. 734548, by the Horizon 2020 through ZikaPlan and ZikAc-tion (grant agreement numbers 734584 and 734857) and by the National Institutes of Health USA grant U01 AI151698 for the United World Antiviral Research Network (UWARN). MG and LCJA is supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ). JL is supported by a lectureship from the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford.
Funding Information:
Institutional Review Board Statement: This project was reviewed and approved by the Comissão Nacional de Ética em Pesquisa (CONEP) [National Research Ethics Committee] from the Brazilian Ministry of Health (BrMoH), as part of the arboviral genomic surveillance efforts within the terms of Resolution 510/2016 of CONEP, by the Pan American Health Organization Ethics Review Committee (PAHOERC) (Ref. No. PAHO-2016-08-0029), by the Animal Welfare Committee of Universidade Federal do Piauí, under n◦065/19 and by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Ethics Committee (CAAE: 90249218.6.1001.5248). All experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Background: West Nile virus (WNV) was first sequenced in Brazil in 2019, when it was isolated from a horse in the Espírito Santo state. Despite multiple studies reporting serological evidence suggestive of past circulation since 2004, WNV remains a low priority for surveillance and public health, such that much is still unknown about its genomic diversity, evolution, and transmission in the country. Methods: A combination of diagnostic assays, nanopore sequencing, phylogenetic inference, and epidemiological modeling are here used to provide a holistic overview of what is known about WNV in Brazil. Results: We report new genetic evidence of WNV circulation in southern (Minas Gerais, São Paulo) and northeastern (Piauí) states isolated from equine red blood cells. A novel, climate-informed theoretical perspective of the potential transmission of WNV across the country highlights the state of Piauí as particularly relevant for WNV epidemiology in Brazil, although it does not reject possible circulation in other states. Conclusion: Our output demonstrates the scarceness of existing data, and that although there is sufficient evidence for the circulation and persistence of the virus, much is still unknown on its local evolution, epidemiology, and activity. We advocate for a shift to active surveillance, to ensure adequate preparedness for future epidemics with spill-over potential to humans.
AB - Background: West Nile virus (WNV) was first sequenced in Brazil in 2019, when it was isolated from a horse in the Espírito Santo state. Despite multiple studies reporting serological evidence suggestive of past circulation since 2004, WNV remains a low priority for surveillance and public health, such that much is still unknown about its genomic diversity, evolution, and transmission in the country. Methods: A combination of diagnostic assays, nanopore sequencing, phylogenetic inference, and epidemiological modeling are here used to provide a holistic overview of what is known about WNV in Brazil. Results: We report new genetic evidence of WNV circulation in southern (Minas Gerais, São Paulo) and northeastern (Piauí) states isolated from equine red blood cells. A novel, climate-informed theoretical perspective of the potential transmission of WNV across the country highlights the state of Piauí as particularly relevant for WNV epidemiology in Brazil, although it does not reject possible circulation in other states. Conclusion: Our output demonstrates the scarceness of existing data, and that although there is sufficient evidence for the circulation and persistence of the virus, much is still unknown on its local evolution, epidemiology, and activity. We advocate for a shift to active surveillance, to ensure adequate preparedness for future epidemics with spill-over potential to humans.
KW - Brazil
KW - Genomic monitoring
KW - Molecular detection
KW - West Nile virus
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111172225&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/pathogens10070896
DO - 10.3390/pathogens10070896
M3 - Article
C2 - 34358046
AN - SCOPUS:85111172225
SN - 2076-0817
VL - 10
JO - Pathogens
JF - Pathogens
IS - 7
M1 - 896
ER -
