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

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

Posted today by the magazine "Scientist Reports", the study showed that monkeys shot dead in two Brazilian cities for fear of being infected with yellow fever were infected with the virus zikawhich made them sick and made them more vulnerable to human attacks.

The attacks on the monkeys took place last year because many people suspected and had yellow fever. 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 is the case 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. virology, Marcio Lacerda.

According to him, although the Zika virus has already been detected in monkeys living near urban areas, it is the first time that it is identified as an epidemic. During the yellow fever epidemic that Brazil experienced last year, the researchers found that there were many dead monkeys, not because of the virus but because of the behavior of the man, who killed them 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 analyzing the skin of the monkeys, it was found that the virus that infected them was very similar to the one that infected humans. In the same area, mosquitoes were found infected with Zika.

To carry out 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 an alteration of behavior, confirming our initial hypothesis, that the infection would have made them more likely to be captured and slaughtered, the researcher added.

According to the study, natural and experimental infection of the monkeys by Zika indicates that these animals may be vertebrate hosts in virus transmission and circulation in urban tropical environments, but more studies are needed to the role of macaques in the environment. maintaining the zika urban cycle.

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

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

The Zika virus appeared in macaques in Africa and then spread to Asia and America. Brazil experienced an epidemic of disease in 2016, which led 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 cases of the disease, which causes microcephaly in newborns.