Zika Virus Surveillance at the Human-Animal Interface in West-Central Brazil, 2017-2018.
Alex Pauvolid-CorrêaHelver Gonçalves DiasLaura Marina Siqueira MaiaGrasiela PorfírioThais Oliveira MorgadoGilberto Sabino-SantosPaula Helena Santa RitaWanessa Teixeira Gomes BarretoGabriel Carvalho de MacedoJaire Marinho TorresWesley Arruda Gimenes NantesFilipe Martins SantosWilliam Oliveira de AssisAndreza Castro RuccoRafael Mamoru Dos Santos YuiJoão Bosco Vilela CamposRenato Rodrigues Leandro E SilvaRaquel da Silva FerreiraNilvanei Aparecido da Silva NevesMichell Charlles de Souza CostaLeticia Ramos MartinsEmerson Marques de SouzaMichellen Dos Santos CarvalhoMarina Gonçalves LimaFernanda de Cássia Gonçalves AlvesLuiz Humberto Guimarães Riquelme-JuniorLuan Luiz Batista FigueiróMatheus Fernandes Gomes de SantanaLuiz Gustavo Rodrigues Oliveira SantosSamara Serra MedeirosLarissa Lopes SeinoEmily Hime MirandaJosé Henrique Rezende LinharesVanessa de Oliveira SantosStephanie Almeida da SilvaKelly Araújo LúcioViviane Silva GomesAlexandre de Araújo OliveiraJulia Dos Santos SilvaWilliam de Almeida MarquesMarcio Schafer MarquesJosé Junior França de BarrosLetícia CamposDinair Couto-LimaClaudia Coutinho NettoChristine StrüssmannNicholas PanellaEmily HannonBarbara Cristina de MacedoJúlia Ramos de AlmeidaKaren Ramos RibeiroMaria Carolina Barros de CastroLarissa Pratta CamposAna Paula Rosa Dos SantosIsabelle Marino de SouzaMateus de Assis BianchiniSandra Helena Ramiro CorreaRenato Ordones Baptista LuzAnanda Dos Santos VieiraLuzia Maria de Oliveira PintoElzinandes AzeredoLuiz Tadeu Moraes FigueiredoJeronimo Augusto Fonseca AlencarSheila Maria Barbosa de LimaHeitor Miraglia HerreraRenata Dezengrini SlhessarenkoFlávia Barreto Dos SantosAna Maria Bispo de FilippisStephanie J SalyerJoel MontgomeryNicholas KomarPublished in: Viruses (2019)
Zika virus (ZIKV) was first discovered in 1947 in Uganda but was not considered a public health threat until 2007 when it found to be the source of epidemic activity in Asia. Epidemic activity spread to Brazil in 2014 and continued to spread throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. Despite ZIKV being zoonotic in origin, information about transmission, or even exposure of non-human vertebrates and mosquitoes to ZIKV in the Americas, is lacking. Accordingly, from February 2017 to March 2018, we sought evidence of sylvatic ZIKV transmission by sampling whole blood from approximately 2000 domestic and wild vertebrates of over 100 species in West-Central Brazil within the active human ZIKV transmission area. In addition, we collected over 24,300 mosquitoes of at least 17 genera and 62 species. We screened whole blood samples and mosquito pools for ZIKV RNA using pan-flavivirus primers in a real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in a SYBR Green platform. Positives were confirmed using ZIKV-specific envelope gene real-time RT-PCR and nucleotide sequencing. Of the 2068 vertebrates tested, none were ZIKV positive. Of the 23,315 non-engorged mosquitoes consolidated into 1503 pools tested, 22 (1.5%) with full data available showed some degree of homology to insect-specific flaviviruses. To identify previous exposure to ZIKV, 1498 plasma samples representing 62 species of domestic and sylvatic vertebrates were tested for ZIKV-neutralizing antibodies by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT90). From these, 23 (1.5%) of seven species were seropositive for ZIKV and negative for dengue virus serotype 2, yellow fever virus, and West Nile virus, suggesting potential monotypic reaction for ZIKV. Results presented here suggest no active transmission of ZIKV in non-human vertebrate populations or in alternative vector candidates, but suggest that vertebrates around human populations have indeed been exposed to ZIKV in West-Central Brazil.