TY - JOUR
T1 - YELLOW ALERT
T2 - Persistent Yellow Fever Virus Circulation among Non-Human Primates in Urban Areas of Minas Gerais State, Brazil (2021–2023)
AU - Garcia-Oliveira, Gabriela F.
AU - Guimarães, Anna Catarina Dias Soares
AU - Moreira, Gabriel Dias
AU - Costa, Thais Alkifeles
AU - Arruda, Matheus Soares
AU - de Mello, Érica Munhoz
AU - Silva, Marlise Costa
AU - de Almeida, Munique Guimarães
AU - Hanley, Kathryn A.
AU - Vasilakis, Nikos
AU - Drumond, Betânia Paiva
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2024/1
Y1 - 2024/1
N2 - Yellow fever virus (YFV) is the agent of yellow fever (YF), which affects both humans and non-human primates (NHP). Neotropical NHP are highly susceptible to YFV and considered sentinels for YFV circulation. Brazil faced a significant YF outbreak in 2017–2018, with over 2000 human cases and 2000 epizootics cases, mainly in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This study aimed to investigate whether YFV circulation persisted in NHP after the human outbreak had subsided. To this end, NHP carcass samples collected in Minas Gerais from 2021 to 2023 were screened for YFV. RNA was extracted from tissue fragments and used in RT-qPCR targeting the YFV 5’UTR. Liver and lung samples from 166 animals were tested, and the detection of the β-actin mRNA was used to ensure adequacy of RNA isolation. YFV RNA was detected in the liver of 18 NHP carcasses collected mainly from urban areas in 2021 and 2022. YFV positive NHP were mostly represented by Callithrix, from 5 out of the 12 grouped municipalities (mesoregions) in Minas Gerais state. These findings reveal the continued YFV circulation in NHP in urban areas of Minas Gerais during 2021 and 2022, with the attendant risk of re-establishing the urban YFV cycle.
AB - Yellow fever virus (YFV) is the agent of yellow fever (YF), which affects both humans and non-human primates (NHP). Neotropical NHP are highly susceptible to YFV and considered sentinels for YFV circulation. Brazil faced a significant YF outbreak in 2017–2018, with over 2000 human cases and 2000 epizootics cases, mainly in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This study aimed to investigate whether YFV circulation persisted in NHP after the human outbreak had subsided. To this end, NHP carcass samples collected in Minas Gerais from 2021 to 2023 were screened for YFV. RNA was extracted from tissue fragments and used in RT-qPCR targeting the YFV 5’UTR. Liver and lung samples from 166 animals were tested, and the detection of the β-actin mRNA was used to ensure adequacy of RNA isolation. YFV RNA was detected in the liver of 18 NHP carcasses collected mainly from urban areas in 2021 and 2022. YFV positive NHP were mostly represented by Callithrix, from 5 out of the 12 grouped municipalities (mesoregions) in Minas Gerais state. These findings reveal the continued YFV circulation in NHP in urban areas of Minas Gerais during 2021 and 2022, with the attendant risk of re-establishing the urban YFV cycle.
KW - Brazil
KW - Orthoflavivirus
KW - epizootics
KW - non-human primate
KW - outbreaks
KW - surveillance
KW - yellow fever
KW - yellow fever virus
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183249401&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85183249401&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/v16010031
DO - 10.3390/v16010031
M3 - Article
C2 - 38257732
AN - SCOPUS:85183249401
SN - 1999-4915
VL - 16
JO - Viruses
JF - Viruses
IS - 1
M1 - 31
ER -