Students put their knowledge into practice with research on the diversity and abundance of mosquitoes in a native forest area in Venda Nova do Imigrante. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
Brazil is the country in the Americas with the highest number of vector-borne diseases, such as dengue fever, yellow fever, leishmaniasis and spotted fever. To understand the spread of these diseases and develop coping strategies, it is necessary to know both the microorganisms that cause the diseases, the insects that spread the infections and the socio-environmental characteristics that favor their spread.
With the aim of expanding knowledge and mastery of research methods and techniques on this topic, an international course, with classes in English, brought together postgraduate students and professors from Brazil and the United States, from October 1st to 6th, in the Pedra Azul region in Domingos Martins, Espírito Santo.
Promoted by the Postgraduate Program in Tropical Medicine at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz), the 11th edition of the Ecological Determinants of Vector-Borne Diseases (Detectors) course was held in partnership with the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES) and the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL), at the University of Florida, in the U.S.
The activity was funded by the Carlos Chagas Filho Research Support Foundation of Rio de Janeiro (Faperj), Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) and FMEL.
In 2023, the course brought together students and teachers from five Brazilian and two American institutions, in addition to receiving a group from IFES. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
Seventeen master's, doctoral and post-doctoral students participated in the activities, including postgraduate students in Tropical Medicine, Parasitic Biology and Cellular and Molecular Biology at the IOC, in addition to students from UFES and the University of Florida.
The classes were taught by 25 teachers and monitors from five Brazilian institutions – IOC/Fiocruz, UFES, Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Federal Fluminense University (UFF) and State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj) – and two American ones – FMEL and University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB).
The course was coordinated by researchers Nildimar Honório and Vanessa de Paula, from IOC; Luciana Stanzani and Aloísio Falqueto, from UFES; Tanise Stenn and Jorge Rey, from FMEL.
The professors highlighted the importance of the national and international partnership established for training researchers and combating vector diseases.
“In Brazil, we have an important challenge in the context of vector-borne diseases, given the diversity of insect vectors and associated diseases in permissive environments. The Detvetores course has the mission of sharing theoretical and practical knowledge about the main ecological determinants related to these diseases, aiming to strengthen entomological surveillance, scientific collaboration and the internationalization of the Postgraduate Program in Tropical Medicine of the IOC”, highlighted Nildimar. Creator and general coordinator of the course, the entomologist is a researcher at the Laboratory of Host Virus Interactions of the IOC and coordinator of the Sentinel Operational Nucleus of Mosquito Vectors of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Nosmove/Fiocruz).
Nildimar Honório highlighted the importance of encouraging students to overcome the language barrier, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and the internationalization of research. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
“Tropical diseases are not things of the past. After 80 years, yellow fever returned to several states in Brazil, causing deaths. We need to train new generations of researchers, who will continue studies in this area”, highlighted Falqueto, doctor and professor at UFES, who was supervised by parasitologist Leônidas Deane in the Postgraduate Course in Tropical Medicine of the IOC.
“Bringing the Detvetores course to Espírito Santo is even more important considering the lack of entomologists and the epidemiological relevance of vector diseases in the state. It is an opportunity for training and to awaken the interest of young people in this very important area of public health”, added Luciana, a biologist at UFES, who was a student on the course in 2019.
“This has been a very productive partnership over the years. International experience is important for our students and researchers and the course has facilitated scientific cooperation and student exchange”, said Rey, director of FMEL.
Started in 2011, the Detvetores course has been taking place in an international format since 2018. This year, for the first time, the activity was carried out outside Rio de Janeiro. Undergraduate and high school students from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Espírito Santo (IFES), Guarapari campus, participated in part of the activities.
In an immersion format, the course began with a series of theoretical classes. In total, 17 classes were taught during the course by professors from participating institutions.
International cooperation, arbovirus scenario, geospatial analyzes and mosquito identification were topics addressed, respectively, by Jorge Rey, from FMEL; Flávia Barreto, from IOC; Rafael Catão, from UFES; and Kristin Sloyer of UTMB. Photos: Gutemberg Brito / Editing: Jefferson Mendes
The professors discussed the scenario of vector diseases, the diversity and behavior of vectors and highlighted the relevance of expanding research in the area.
“To date, we have discovered new species of mosquitoes in the United States, which has around 200 known species. In a tropical country like Brazil, where biodiversity is much greater, there are certainly many species that have not yet been described”, highlighted entomologist and professor at FMEL, Lawrence Reeves.
“We now have co-circulation of four dengue serotypes, in addition to chikungunya and Zika in Brazil. The mosquito Aedes aegypti it will not be eradicated, but we cannot accept, after 40 years of epidemics, having more than a thousand deaths per year caused by dengue, as has been happening”, stated the virologist and researcher at the Laboratory of Virus-Host Interactions at the IOC, Flávia Barreto, professor of the Postgraduate Course in Tropical Medicine.
“In addition to dengue, Zika and chikungunya, we have around 40 vector-borne viruses that can cause disease in people and animals, identified in Brazil, such as the Saint Louis, Ilhéus and Mayaro encephalitis viruses. There are still many gaps in knowledge”, pointed out the professor of veterinary virology at UFV, Alex Pauvolid Corrêa.
The classes addressed issues relevant to combating diseases, such as resistance to insecticides and the relationship between the landscape and vector diseases. In addition, they presented methodologies for developing research, including techniques for identifying species of mosquitoes, sandflies, culicoids and ticks. Approaches to mapping and statistical analysis of data were also discussed.
Methods for collecting different types of vectors were presented to the students, including traps traditionally used in entomology and devices developed by researchers from Brazil and the United States.
Professor Aloísio Falqueto, from UFES, demonstrated insect capture techniques in a practical field class. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
To put their knowledge into practice, students developed small studies. Divided into groups, they chose questions to investigate and applied methodologies discussed in the course.
Collections of adult wild insects and larvae were carried out in the municipality of Venda Nova do Imigrante and around the Pedra Azul State Park, in Domingos Martins, covering areas with different types of landscape, including, for example, preserved Atlantic Forest and environments rural.
The work addressed the mosquito and sand fly fauna in different locations and altitudes, the diversity of immature forms of insects in water stored in bromeliads and the tick population in native forest and a pasture area.
With different backgrounds and research interests, the students highlighted theoretical and practical learning, as well as the interdisciplinary nature of the course and the interaction between students and professors from different institutions and countries.
“I'm starting my master's degree and mosquito collection methodologies will be important. The course also brought new questions, in relation to statistics and geography, which I will seek to master to improve my research”, pointed out Caio Ceres Pereira da Silva, master's student in Tropical Medicine.
Accompanied by professor Barry Alto, from FMEL, students collect water samples stored in bromeliads to analyze the presence of larvae and other immature forms of vectors. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
“We learned about data analysis, new tools, new software, and study design. So, this will really be used in our postgraduate studies and in our future studies”, said Dalila Machado, master’s student in Tropical Medicine.
“We are in academia and in the future, we can also work on health surveillance. Interaction with colleagues, both from Brazil and abroad, helps to create a network of contacts to study vectors and the diseases that are transmitted by them”, commented Leandro Siqueira, doctoral student in Tropical Medicine.
“Through our experience with the teachers in the field, we learned things that we don’t find in the literature, such as details of mosquito collection movements”, said João Pedro Drumond, master’s student in Parasitic Biology.
“The course was enriching not only for the exchange with the professors, but also for the exchange with other students, because we got to know other projects and we could also form partnerships”, added Claulimara Moreira, PhD student in Tropical Medicine.
Students put their knowledge into practice with research on the diversity and abundance of mosquitoes in a native forest area in Venda Nova do Imigrante. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
Brazil is the country in the Americas with the highest number of vector-borne diseases, such as dengue fever, yellow fever, leishmaniasis and spotted fever. To understand the spread of these diseases and develop coping strategies, it is necessary to know both the microorganisms that cause the diseases, the insects that spread the infections and the socio-environmental characteristics that favor their spread.
With the aim of expanding knowledge and mastery of research methods and techniques on this topic, an international course, with classes in English, brought together postgraduate students and professors from Brazil and the United States, from October 1st to 6th, in the Pedra Azul region in Domingos Martins, Espírito Santo.
Promoted by the Postgraduate Program in Tropical Medicine at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz), the 11th edition of the Ecological Determinants of Vector-Borne Diseases (Detectors) course was held in partnership with the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES) and the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL), at the University of Florida, in the U.S.
The activity was funded by the Carlos Chagas Filho Research Support Foundation of Rio de Janeiro (Faperj), Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) and FMEL.
In 2023, the course brought together students and teachers from five Brazilian and two American institutions, in addition to receiving a group from IFES. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
Seventeen master's, doctoral and post-doctoral students participated in the activities, including postgraduate students in Tropical Medicine, Parasitic Biology and Cellular and Molecular Biology at the IOC, in addition to students from UFES and the University of Florida.
The classes were taught by 25 teachers and monitors from five Brazilian institutions – IOC/Fiocruz, UFES, Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Federal Fluminense University (UFF) and State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj) – and two American ones – FMEL and University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB).
The course was coordinated by researchers Nildimar Honório and Vanessa de Paula, from IOC; Luciana Stanzani and Aloísio Falqueto, from UFES; Tanise Stenn and Jorge Rey, from FMEL.
The professors highlighted the importance of the national and international partnership established for training researchers and combating vector diseases.
“In Brazil, we have an important challenge in the context of vector-borne diseases, given the diversity of insect vectors and associated diseases in permissive environments. The Detvetores course has the mission of sharing theoretical and practical knowledge about the main ecological determinants related to these diseases, aiming to strengthen entomological surveillance, scientific collaboration and the internationalization of the Postgraduate Program in Tropical Medicine of the IOC”, highlighted Nildimar. Creator and general coordinator of the course, the entomologist is a researcher at the Laboratory of Host Virus Interactions of the IOC and coordinator of the Sentinel Operational Nucleus of Mosquito Vectors of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Nosmove/Fiocruz).
Nildimar Honório highlighted the importance of encouraging students to overcome the language barrier, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and the internationalization of research. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
“Tropical diseases are not things of the past. After 80 years, yellow fever returned to several states in Brazil, causing deaths. We need to train new generations of researchers, who will continue studies in this area”, highlighted Falqueto, doctor and professor at UFES, who was supervised by parasitologist Leônidas Deane in the Postgraduate Course in Tropical Medicine of the IOC.
“Bringing the Detvetores course to Espírito Santo is even more important considering the lack of entomologists and the epidemiological relevance of vector diseases in the state. It is an opportunity for training and to awaken the interest of young people in this very important area of public health”, added Luciana, a biologist at UFES, who was a student on the course in 2019.
“This has been a very productive partnership over the years. International experience is important for our students and researchers and the course has facilitated scientific cooperation and student exchange”, said Rey, director of FMEL.
Started in 2011, the Detvetores course has been taking place in an international format since 2018. This year, for the first time, the activity was carried out outside Rio de Janeiro. Undergraduate and high school students from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Espírito Santo (IFES), Guarapari campus, participated in part of the activities.
In an immersion format, the course began with a series of theoretical classes. In total, 17 classes were taught during the course by professors from participating institutions.
International cooperation, arbovirus scenario, geospatial analyzes and mosquito identification were topics addressed, respectively, by Jorge Rey, from FMEL; Flávia Barreto, from IOC; Rafael Catão, from UFES; and Kristin Sloyer of UTMB. Photos: Gutemberg Brito / Editing: Jefferson Mendes
The professors discussed the scenario of vector diseases, the diversity and behavior of vectors and highlighted the relevance of expanding research in the area.
“To date, we have discovered new species of mosquitoes in the United States, which has around 200 known species. In a tropical country like Brazil, where biodiversity is much greater, there are certainly many species that have not yet been described”, highlighted entomologist and professor at FMEL, Lawrence Reeves.
“We now have co-circulation of four dengue serotypes, in addition to chikungunya and Zika in Brazil. The mosquito Aedes aegypti it will not be eradicated, but we cannot accept, after 40 years of epidemics, having more than a thousand deaths per year caused by dengue, as has been happening”, stated the virologist and researcher at the Laboratory of Virus-Host Interactions at the IOC, Flávia Barreto, professor of the Postgraduate Course in Tropical Medicine.
“In addition to dengue, Zika and chikungunya, we have around 40 vector-borne viruses that can cause disease in people and animals, identified in Brazil, such as the Saint Louis, Ilhéus and Mayaro encephalitis viruses. There are still many gaps in knowledge”, pointed out the professor of veterinary virology at UFV, Alex Pauvolid Corrêa.
The classes addressed issues relevant to combating diseases, such as resistance to insecticides and the relationship between the landscape and vector diseases. In addition, they presented methodologies for developing research, including techniques for identifying species of mosquitoes, sandflies, culicoids and ticks. Approaches to mapping and statistical analysis of data were also discussed.
Methods for collecting different types of vectors were presented to the students, including traps traditionally used in entomology and devices developed by researchers from Brazil and the United States.
Professor Aloísio Falqueto, from UFES, demonstrated insect capture techniques in a practical field class. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
To put their knowledge into practice, students developed small studies. Divided into groups, they chose questions to investigate and applied methodologies discussed in the course.
Collections of adult wild insects and larvae were carried out in the municipality of Venda Nova do Imigrante and around the Pedra Azul State Park, in Domingos Martins, covering areas with different types of landscape, including, for example, preserved Atlantic Forest and environments rural.
The work addressed the mosquito and sand fly fauna in different locations and altitudes, the diversity of immature forms of insects in water stored in bromeliads and the tick population in native forest and a pasture area.
With different backgrounds and research interests, the students highlighted theoretical and practical learning, as well as the interdisciplinary nature of the course and the interaction between students and professors from different institutions and countries.
“I'm starting my master's degree and mosquito collection methodologies will be important. The course also brought new questions, in relation to statistics and geography, which I will seek to master to improve my research”, pointed out Caio Ceres Pereira da Silva, master's student in Tropical Medicine.
Accompanied by professor Barry Alto, from FMEL, students collect water samples stored in bromeliads to analyze the presence of larvae and other immature forms of vectors. Photo: Gutemberg Brito
“We learned about data analysis, new tools, new software, and study design. So, this will really be used in our postgraduate studies and in our future studies”, said Dalila Machado, master’s student in Tropical Medicine.
“We are in academia and in the future, we can also work on health surveillance. Interaction with colleagues, both from Brazil and abroad, helps to create a network of contacts to study vectors and the diseases that are transmitted by them”, commented Leandro Siqueira, doctoral student in Tropical Medicine.
“Through our experience with the teachers in the field, we learned things that we don’t find in the literature, such as details of mosquito collection movements”, said João Pedro Drumond, master’s student in Parasitic Biology.
“The course was enriching not only for the exchange with the professors, but also for the exchange with other students, because we got to know other projects and we could also form partnerships”, added Claulimara Moreira, PhD student in Tropical Medicine.
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