Dados do Trabalho

Título

Mayaro Virus Exposure in Free Ranging Bats of Animal Human Interface Areas, Midwest Brazil

Introdução

Arboviruses such as Dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV) and Chikungunya (CHIKV) are maintained in epidemic cycles of transmission among humans and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Brazil, and are of great importance to public health. Other arboviruses such as Yellow Fever (YFV), Mayaro (MAYV) and Oropouche (OROV), that are maintained in enzootic cycles of transmission involving wild vertebrate and diptera species, have also great medical importance in the country. The circulation of these arboviruses in wild vertebrate species at the human-animal interface in Brazil remains poorly investigated. There is, therefore, a gap in knowledge about the maintenance of arboviruses in forested environments. Bats are among the synanthropic vertebrates found in large populations in these areas and their exposure to these arboviruses is still obscure.

Objetivo (s)

Here, we aimed to search for the circulation of the main epidemic and enzootic arboviruses in Brazil in specimens of bats collected in forested areas of the metropolitan regions of the Midwest region of Brazil between 2017 and 2018.

Material e Métodos

Real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays were used for the investigation of active DENV1-4, ZIKV, CHIKV, YFV, MAYV and OROV infections in liver (n=178), kidney (n=175) and brain (n= 168) tissues of euthanized bats. Previous exposure to MAYV and OROV was also evaluated by the investigation of specific neutralizing antibodies by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) in 79 bats from several species.

Resultados e Conclusão

No active infections were identified and none of the bats showed neutralizing antibodies for OROV. On the other hand, 2.6% (2/76) of the bats were seropositive for MAYV, one Noctilio albiventris (PRNT50 titer 40) and one Molossus rufus (PRNT50 titer 80). The role of bats in arbovirus cycles of transmission remains unclear worldwide, and the exposure of bats to MAYV in Midwest Brazil merits further investigation.

Palavras-chave

Mayaro Virus ; Bats ; Animal-Human Interface.

Agradecimentos

FAPERJ, CNPq, CAPES.