First genomic evidence of a Henipa-like Virus in Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Hernández, Leonardo Henrique Almeida
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Paz, Thito Y. Bezerra da, Silva, Sandro Patroca da, Silva, Fábio S. da, Barros, Bruno C. Veloso de, Nunes, Bruno Tardelli Diniz, Casseb, Lívia Medeiros Neves, Medeiros, Daniele Barbosa de Almeida, Vasconcelos, Pedro Fernando da Costa, Cruz, Ana Cecília Ribeiro
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Digital do Instituto Evandro Chagas (Patuá)
• Texto Completo: https://patua.iec.gov.br/handle/iec/4710
• topic: Henipavirus / isolamento & purificação; Medidas de Ocorrência de Doenças; Metagenômica; Vírus Peixe-Boi

The viral genus Henipavirus includes two highly virulent zoonotic viruses of serious public health concern. Hendra henipavirus and Nipah henipavirus outbreaks are restricted to Australia and Southeast Asia, respectively. The Henipavirus genus comprises mostly bat-borne viruses, but exceptions have already been described as novel viruses with rodents and shrews as reservoir animals. In the Americas, scarce evidence supports the circulation of these viruses. In this communication, we report a novel henipa-like virus from opossums (Marmosa demerarae) from a forest fragment area in the Peixe-Boi municipality, Brazil, after which the virus was named the Peixe-Boi virus (PBV). The application of next-generation sequencing and metagenomic approach led us to discover the original evidence of a henipa-like virus genome in Brazil and South America and the original description of a henipa-like virus in marsupial species. These findings emphasize the importance of further studies to characterize PBV and clarify its ecology, impact on public health, and its relationship with didelphid marsupials and henipaviruses.