An unprecedented feat in world science. In just 15 days, an itinerant genetic sequencing project led by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) generated 126 complete genomes of viruses responsible for major outbreaks in the country, 69 dengue, 34 chikungunya and 23 Zika.
The samples come from infected patients in the Midwest region of the country. The team also collected more than 2.700 mosquitoes from 19 species, mostly Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus e Culex quinquefasciatus. The insects are being analyzed.
The specialists are part of the project “ZIBRA 2: genetic mapping of Zika and other arboviruses in Brazil”, which is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DECIT) and the Secretariat for Surveillance and Health (SVS), of the Ministry of Health, from the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).
The data were released recently at a meeting at the PAHO office in Brasília. Check out the video report below.
Armed with an innovative genetic sequencing technology that fits in the palm of your hand, the group, made up of national and international researchers, traveled more than 12 kilometers between the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and the Federal District.
In partnership with the General Coordination of Public Health Laboratories of the Ministry of Health (CGLAB/SVS/MS) and with the Central Public Health Laboratories, the LACENs, from the four states, the initiative had access to around 360 samples. The final numbers with all the details generated from the sequencing will be released soon in a scientific article.
With the decoding of the genomes, it will be possible to answer relevant questions for the Unified Health System, such as the origin of the viruses, probable date of entry into national territory, route and speed of expansion, in addition to calculating the possibility of new outbreaks.
The process also makes it possible to reconstruct phylogenetic trees – a type of analysis that groups viruses that share a common ancestor in the same branch, helping to explain their trajectories and evolution.
For Luiz Alcântara, researcher at the Flavivirus Laboratory at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz) and research leader, the benefits of the project will have an impact on studies carried out in Brazil and abroad.
“This record is providing science with rich raw material, which is the mapping, so far, of these three viruses. No project managed to generate all these genomes in fifteen days”, he stressed. The team also targeted the yellow fever virus and other lesser-known ones, such as mayaro, oropuche, São Luís encephalitis and West Nile fever.
Using the technique known as metagenomics, the specialists also intend to sequence samples that were negative for the eight viruses prioritized in the initiative.
“So far, 28 samples have been tested by metagenomics. Of the five that showed positive results for chikungunya, four have already had their complete genomes generated,” said Marta Giovanetti, a visiting researcher at the same laboratory and a member of the team. For the analysis of patient samples – both negative and positive – the epidemiological week with the highest number of cases recorded in the last four years was considered.
The general coordinator of Public Health Laboratories of the Surveillance and Health Secretariat of the Ministry of Health, André Luiz de Abreu, highlighted the importance of the project. “With the incorporation of genomic surveillance into other areas of laboratory surveillance, we will be able to provide a laboratory response with much more substance, with much more content for the actions that health surveillance, epidemiological surveillance, immunization and entomology need. This changes the level of laboratory surveillance”, he emphasized.
The initiative
The project had 13 specialists, including researchers from IOC/Fiocruz, Evandro Chagas Institute (IEC), Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), University of São Paulo (USP), University of Birmingham and University of Oxford, both in England, University of KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, LACEN of Minas Gerais, Instituto Leônidas and Maria Deane (Fiocruz Amazonas) and Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto.
ZIBRA started in 2016, after the health emergency caused by the Zika virus was decreed. After working in the North (Amazonas and Roraima), Northeast (Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Alagoas, Pernambuco and Bahia) and Southeast (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais) regions, in addition to activities in Paraguay and Angola, the Scientists have already managed to carry out the complete sequencing of 203 genomes of the Zika virus, 260 of yellow fever, 154 of chikungunya and 129 of dengue.
An unprecedented feat in world science. In just 15 days, an itinerant genetic sequencing project led by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) generated 126 complete genomes of viruses responsible for major outbreaks in the country, 69 dengue, 34 chikungunya and 23 Zika.
The samples come from infected patients in the Midwest region of the country. The team also collected more than 2.700 mosquitoes from 19 species, mostly Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus e Culex quinquefasciatus. The insects are being analyzed.
The specialists are part of the project “ZIBRA 2: genetic mapping of Zika and other arboviruses in Brazil”, which is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DECIT) and the Secretariat for Surveillance and Health (SVS), of the Ministry of Health, from the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).
The data were released recently at a meeting at the PAHO office in Brasília. Check out the video report below.
Armed with an innovative genetic sequencing technology that fits in the palm of your hand, the group, made up of national and international researchers, traveled more than 12 kilometers between the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and the Federal District.
In partnership with the General Coordination of Public Health Laboratories of the Ministry of Health (CGLAB/SVS/MS) and with the Central Public Health Laboratories, the LACENs, from the four states, the initiative had access to around 360 samples. The final numbers with all the details generated from the sequencing will be released soon in a scientific article.
With the decoding of the genomes, it will be possible to answer relevant questions for the Unified Health System, such as the origin of the viruses, probable date of entry into national territory, route and speed of expansion, in addition to calculating the possibility of new outbreaks.
The process also makes it possible to reconstruct phylogenetic trees – a type of analysis that groups viruses that share a common ancestor in the same branch, helping to explain their trajectories and evolution.
For Luiz Alcântara, researcher at the Flavivirus Laboratory at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz) and research leader, the benefits of the project will have an impact on studies carried out in Brazil and abroad.
“This record is providing science with rich raw material, which is the mapping, so far, of these three viruses. No project managed to generate all these genomes in fifteen days”, he stressed. The team also targeted the yellow fever virus and other lesser-known ones, such as mayaro, oropuche, São Luís encephalitis and West Nile fever.
Using the technique known as metagenomics, the specialists also intend to sequence samples that were negative for the eight viruses prioritized in the initiative.
“So far, 28 samples have been tested by metagenomics. Of the five that showed positive results for chikungunya, four have already had their complete genomes generated,” said Marta Giovanetti, a visiting researcher at the same laboratory and a member of the team. For the analysis of patient samples – both negative and positive – the epidemiological week with the highest number of cases recorded in the last four years was considered.
The general coordinator of Public Health Laboratories of the Surveillance and Health Secretariat of the Ministry of Health, André Luiz de Abreu, highlighted the importance of the project. “With the incorporation of genomic surveillance into other areas of laboratory surveillance, we will be able to provide a laboratory response with much more substance, with much more content for the actions that health surveillance, epidemiological surveillance, immunization and entomology need. This changes the level of laboratory surveillance”, he emphasized.
The initiative
The project had 13 specialists, including researchers from IOC/Fiocruz, Evandro Chagas Institute (IEC), Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), University of São Paulo (USP), University of Birmingham and University of Oxford, both in England, University of KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, LACEN of Minas Gerais, Instituto Leônidas and Maria Deane (Fiocruz Amazonas) and Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto.
ZIBRA started in 2016, after the health emergency caused by the Zika virus was decreed. After working in the North (Amazonas and Roraima), Northeast (Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Alagoas, Pernambuco and Bahia) and Southeast (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais) regions, in addition to activities in Paraguay and Angola, the Scientists have already managed to carry out the complete sequencing of 203 genomes of the Zika virus, 260 of yellow fever, 154 of chikungunya and 129 of dengue.
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