Publications by authors named "Marcio G Pavan"

The mosquito is distributed worldwide and is recognized as the primary vector for dengue in numerous countries. To investigate whether the fitness cost of a single DENV-1 isolate varies among populations, we selected four populations from distinct localities: Australia (AUS), Brazil (BRA), Pakistan (PAK), and Peru (PER). Utilizing simple methodologies, we concurrently assessed survival rates and fecundity.

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Two strains, Mel and AlbB, have been transinfected into mosquitoes for population replacement with the aim of reducing dengue transmission. Epidemiological data from various endemic sites suggest a pronounced decrease in dengue transmission after implementing this strategy. In this study, we investigated the impact of the strains Mel and AlbB on fitness in a common genetic background.

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Several countries have been using deployments to replace highly competent native populations with -carrying mosquitoes with lower susceptibility to arboviruses such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. In Rio de Janeiro, deployments started in 2015 and still present a moderate introgression with a modest reduction in dengue cases in humans (38%). Here, we evaluated the vector competence of wild-type and Mel-infected with a Brazilian genetic background to investigate whether virus leakage could contribute to the observed outcomes in Brazil.

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Background: The mosquito microbiota impacts different parameters in host biology, such as development, metabolism, immune response and vector competence to pathogens. As the environment is an important source of acquisition of host associate microbes, we described the microbiota and the vector competence to Zika virus (ZIKV) of from three areas with distinct landscapes.

Methods: Adult females were collected during two different seasons, while eggs were used to rear F1 colonies.

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(1) Background: The deployment of the bacterium to reduce arbovirus transmission is ongoing in several countries worldwide. When -carrying are released and established in the field, females may feed on dengue-infected hosts. The effects of simultaneous exposure on life-history traits of to wMel strain and dengue-1 virus DENV-1 remain unclear.

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Article Synopsis
  • *Current control methods focus on managing sand fly populations and their reservoirs due to challenges like drug resistance and the toxicity of existing treatments.
  • *Researchers sequenced the genomes of two key sand fly species to better understand their biology and genetic diversity, paving the way for improved strategies to combat the spread of Leishmania parasites.
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The transmission of dengue (DENV) and Zika (ZIKV) has been continuously increasing worldwide. An efficient arbovirus surveillance system is critical to designing early-warning systems to increase preparedness of future outbreaks in endemic countries. The Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) is a promising high throughput technique to detect arbovirus infection in with remarkable advantages such as cost and time effectiveness, reagent-free, and non-invasive nature over existing molecular tools for similar purposes, enabling timely decision making through rapid detection of potential disease.

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Triatoma maculata (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae) occurs across dry-to-semiarid ecoregions of northern South America, where it transmits Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease. Using 207 field-caught specimens from throughout the species' range, mitochondrial(mt) DNA sequence data, and cytogenetics, we investigated inter-population genetic diversity and the phylogenetic affinities of T. maculata.

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Article Synopsis
  • Chagas disease, caused by the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite, affects an estimated 70 million people, and traditional detection methods can be low in sensitivity or expensive in endemic areas.
  • A study evaluated the accuracy of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) as a reagent-free, rapid, and non-invasive technique for detecting T. cruzi infection in the body parts and excreta of the Triatoma infestans insect, achieving 100% accuracy for various samples.
  • This research represents the first use of NIRS for this purpose, and future studies aim to test its effectiveness on field-collected triatomines.
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Bats are infected with several trypanosomatid species; however, assessing the diversity of this interaction remains challenging since there are species apparently unable to grow in conventional culture media. Accordingly, the ecology and biology of the Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) spp. Neobats are unknown.

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is a generalist hemoflagellate that infects mammals and is transmitted by triatomines around Latin America. Due to its high genetic diversity, it can be classified into two to five lineages. In Brazil, its distribution outside the Amazon region is virtually unknown, and knowledge on the ecology of its lineages and on host species diversity requires further investigation.

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Background: Triatomine bugs, the vectors of Chagas disease, associate with vertebrate hosts in highly diverse ecotopes. It has been proposed that occupation of new microhabitats may trigger selection for distinct phenotypic variants in these blood-sucking bugs. Although understanding phenotypic variation is key to the study of adaptive evolution and central to phenotype-based taxonomy, the drivers of phenotypic change and diversity in triatomines remain poorly understood.

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Deployment of Wolbachia to mitigate dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV) and chikungunya (CHIKV) transmission is ongoing in 12 countries. One way to assess the efficacy of Wolbachia releases is to determine invasion rates within the wild population of Aedes aegypti following their release. Herein we evaluated the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) in estimating the time post death, ZIKV-, CHIKV-, and Wolbachia-infection in trapped dead female Ae.

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Decamyia Dyar is a subgenus of Wyeomyia Theobald with three valid species. Wyeomyia rorotai Senevet, Chabelard Abonnenc, a species originally described rather briefly in the subgenus Dendromyia, is without subgeneric position in the genus. In the present work, we redescribe Wy.

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Background: Several studies addressed changes on the insect vector behavior due to parasite infection, but little is known for triatomine bugs, vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease. We assessed infection rates and metacyclogenesis of T. cruzi (TcVI) in fifth-instar nymphs of Triatoma rubrovaria comparing with the primary vector Triatoma infestans.

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Human polycystic echinococcosis is a parasitic infection caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus vogeli, which occurs in rural areas of Central and South America. Until now, little information on the genetic variability of E. vogeli is available.

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Background: Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito, is an exotic invasive species in Europe. It has substantial public health relevance due to its potential role in transmitting several human pathogens. Out of the European countries, Spain has one of the highest risk levels of autochthonous arbovirus transmission due to both the high density of Ae.

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A Zika virus (ZIKV) pandemic started soon after the first autochthonous cases in Latin America. Although is pointed as the primary vector in Latin America, little is known about the fitness cost due to ZIKV infection. We investigated the effects of ZIKV infection on the life-history traits of females collected in three districts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Barra, Deodoro, and Porto), equidistant ~25 km each other.

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Background: Rhodnius nasutus, a vector of the etiological agent Trypanosoma cruzi, is one of the epidemiologically most relevant triatomine species of the Brazilian Caatinga, where it often colonizes rural peridomestic structures such as chicken coops and occasionally invades houses. Historical colonization and determination of its genetic diversity and population structure may provide new information towards the improvement of vector control in the region. In this paper we present thoughtful analyses considering the phylogeography and demographic history of R.

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The accelerating global spread of arboviruses, such as Zika virus (ZIKV), highlights the need for more proactive mosquito surveillance. However, a major challenge during arbovirus outbreaks has been the lack of rapid and affordable tests for pathogen detection in mosquitoes. We show for the first time that near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a rapid, reagent-free, and cost-effective tool that can be used to noninvasively detect ZIKV in heads and thoraces of intact mosquitoes with prediction accuracies of 94.

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Background: Trypanosoma cruzi, the causal agent of Chagas disease, is monophyletic but genetically heterogeneous. It is currently represented by six genetic lineages (Discrete Typing Units, DTUs) designated TcI-TcVI. TcI is the most geographically widespread and genetically heterogeneous lineage, this as is evidenced by a wide range of genetic markers applied to isolates spanning a vast geographic range in Latin America.

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Most organisms feature an endogenous circadian clock capable of synchronization with their environment. The most well-known synchronizing agents are light and temperature. The circadian clock of mosquitoes, vectors of many pathogens, drives important behaviors related to vectoral capacity, including oviposition, host seeking, and hematophagy.

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