They warn that the Zika virus could have become wild in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO.- A scientific study carried out in in Brazil warns that the virus zika, transmitted by mosquitoes of the species Aedes Aegypti and until now. considered urban, may have become wild, which would extend its reach and could infect many more people.

Published today by the journal " Scientific Reports ", the study It showed that monkeys killed by bullet by bullet or by blast in two Brazilian cities for fear of contracting yellow fever were infected with the virus zika which made them more vulnerable and made them more vulnerable to the disease. human attacks.

Attacks on monkeys occurred last year because many people suspected that they had yellow fever and that they could get it. Between December 2016 and March this year, the yellow fever outbreak killed 676 people in Brazil and left more than 2,000 confirmed cases of the disease.

The discovery indicates that there is a potential wild cycle for Zika in Brazil. as with yellow fever. If the wild cycle is confirmed, it completely changes the epidemiology of Zika, because there is a natural reserve from which the virus can reinfect much more frequently the human population, explained the coordinator of the study and President of the Brazilian Society. of Virology, Marcio Lacerda.

According to him, the Zika virus had already been detected in monkeys living near urban areas, but it was the first time that it was identified as an epidemic. During the yellow fever epidemic that Brazil experienced last year, the researchers found that there were a lot of dead monkeys, not because of the virus but to because of the behavior of the man, that they were killed for fear of being infected.

When they are in good health, these primates, mainly callithrices and monkeys, are very difficult to capture. We reasoned and then, if they were easily killed, it was because they could be sick. Not with yellow fever, a disease that kills them, and yes for another disease that, without killing them, left them weaker and more vulnerable, he said.

After badyzing the skin of apes, it was discovered that the virus he infected them was very similar to the one that infected humans. In the same area, mosquitoes were found infected with Zika.

To conduct this study, we induced an experimental Zika infection in live macaques. And the inoculation of viruses has caused a presence of viruses in the blood. The macaques had a behavioral change confirming our initial hypothesis, the infection would have made them more likely to be caught and slaughtered, the researcher added.

According to the study, the natural and experimental infection of monkeys with zika indicates that these animals may be vertebrate hosts in the transmission and circulation of the virus in urban, tropical, but other Studies are needed to understand the role of macaques in maintaining the urban cycle of Zika.

Professor at the Center for Tropical Diseases of the University of the United Kingdom of Texas Medical [ UTMB ), Nikos Vasilaks commented that diseases that occur simultaneously in several animals of the same geographical area will always be a source of epidemic in humans, even after a possible control and eradication of the transmission cycle in urban areas. antiviral vaccines and .

This is a fundamental factor that needs to be taken into account by policy makers and the health sector, as well as by vaccine designers, said Vasilaks, who warned that s & # 39; it was confirmed that Zika had become wild, the consequences would be enormous because it would be impossible to eradicate this cycle of transmission.

The Zika virus appeared in macaques in Africa and then spread to Asia and Asia. America Brazil suffered an outbreak of disease in 2016, which prompted the Ministry of Health to declare the state of health emergency.

In 2017, Brazil had 8,839 confirmed cases of zika and this year, until 15 September, 3,155 confirmed registrations. of the disease, which causes microcephaly in newborns.