The parent R01 grant for this proposal, """"""""Land Cover Change in the Chaco and Interior Atlantic Forest (IAF) in Paraguay on Hantavirus Ecology """""""" is testing the hypothesis that the rapid anthropogenic land cover change occurring in Paraguay will have a direct impact of ecosystem viability and biodiversity, and therefore, will affect rodent-hantavirus ecology. From 2003 to present, Brazil has reported 670 cases. In the Brazilian Department, where we propose the research to take place, there were 40 cases (Pincelli et al., 2003). Extension of this project to Brazil will build several important capacities. They include: 1. Approaches and methods in geospatial model building. 2. Approaches and methods in capturing rodents and taking samples from rodents which may harbor possible serious human diseases. 3. Approaches and methods toward general daily work with Hantavirus a BSL3 and isolation of viruses from the Brazilian samples. 4. Training and research opportunities for. Paraguayan scientists at the BSL3 facility in Riberao Preto.
The specific aims of the research and capacity building include:
Aim 1 : To characterize the temporal dynamics of rodent population changes at selected sites in Brazil;
Aim 2. To isolate Hantaviruses from the rodents collected in Aim 1 as well as to characterize their prevalence in rodents;
Aim 3 : To model the relationship between landscape and hantavirus occurrence in human cases in Brazil. Importantly, the objectives reached in aims 1 and 2 will permit analyses of the human infections in further depth and this information will be added to the modeling in Aim 3. Currently, in Latin America, the vast majority of the Hantaviruses that have been identified, have not been isolated. Hence, physicians and public health workers do not know to what virus their patient was exposed. In Latin America this is an important part of the clinical picture because of the presence of numerous strains of Hantavirus circulating in close or overlapping proximity. To truly understand the impact of the virus on human health, further diagnosis of the patient for the virus strain through neutralization assays will be valuable. As in the US, Brazil is building BSL3 facilities that can accommodate this work. Isolation of the viruses and the neutralization test requires working with live virus at BSL3. A major effort of this grant will be to transfer the technology to build the BSL3 capacity.
| Jonsson, Colleen B; Figueiredo, Luiz Tadeu Moraes; Vapalahti, Olli (2010) A global perspective on hantavirus ecology, epidemiology, and disease. Clin Microbiol Rev 23:412-41 |
