Dengue virus detection in culicidae collected in São Paulo state from 2016-2019

Abstract

Dengue virus (DENV) is the most important arbovirus in the world, with a large impact on World Public Health thanks to its morbidity and lethality in some cases. It is caused by dengue virus serotypes 1-4 (DENV 1-4), which belongs to the Flaviviridae family, Flavivirus genus, transmitted in Brazil by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. In Africa and Asia, where this arbovirus originated, sylvatic cycles are described for some serotypes, with transmission occurring by sylvatic mosquitoes of the Aedes genus. However, in Brazil, little is known about the presence of the virus in other species of Culicidae, especially in rural areas, where the presence of Ae. aegypti is of little importance. Thus, this project aims to perform the detection of the Dengue virus through real-time RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) in Culicidae that were collected in the State of São Paulo during the Yellow Fever outbreak, between 2016 and 2019 and sent to the Nucleo de Doenças de Transmissão Vectorial, Instituto Adolfo Lutz, São Paulo. Furthermore, we intend to identify both serotypes and genotypes through sequencing of the Envelope protein and compare the sequences herein generated with other isolates.(AU)