Mosquitoes infected with dengue viruses in Brazil.
Dengue epidemics have been reported in Brazil since 1985. The scenery has worsened in the last decade because several serotypes are circulating and producing a hyper-endemic situation, with an increase of DHF/DSS cases as well as the number of fatalities. Herein, we report dengue virus surveillance in mosquitoes using a Flavivirus genus-specific RT-Hemi-Nested-PCR assay. The mosquitoes (Culicidae, n = 1700) collected in the Northeast, Southeast and South of Brazil, between 1999 and 2005, were grouped into 154 pools. Putative genomes of DENV-1, -2 and -3 were detected in 6 mosquito pools (3.8%). One amplicon of putative DENV-1 was detected in a pool of Haemagogus leucocelaenus suggesting that this virus could be involved in a sylvatic cycle. DENV-3 was found infecting 3 pools of larvae of Aedes albopictus and the nucleotide sequence of one of these viruses was identified as DENV-3 of genotype III, phylogenetically related to other DENV-3 isolated in Brazil. This is the first report of a nucleotide sequence of DENV-3 from larvae of Aedes albopictus.
de Figueiredo
Mario L G
ML
Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
de C Gomes
Almério
A
Amarilla
Alberto A
AA
de S Leandro
André
A
de S Orrico
Agnaldo
A
de Araujo
Renato F
RF
do S M Castro
Jesuína
J
Durigon
Edison L
EL
Aquino
Victor H
VH
Figueiredo
Luiz T M
LT
D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D009033:Culicidae / Q000821:virology*; D003715:Dengue / Q000821:virology; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny