Antibodies Against Henipa-Like Viruses in Brazilian Bats.

Bats are reservoir hosts for many paramyxoviruses, some of which cause human and zoonotic diseases of public health importance. We developed a Nipah virus nucleoprotein enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect cross-reactive antibodies in serum samples from several bat species in Brazil. Our results warrant further investigation of henipa-like virus reservoirs in the Western hemisphere.

Surveillance of Avian Influenza Virus in Aquatic Birds on the Brazilian Amazon Coast.

The occurrence of avian influenza viruses (AIV) has been extensively studied in aquatic birds in the Northern hemisphere; however, much less information is available for the South American region. In 2009-2010, we sampled 1006 wild aquatic birds (90% Charadriiformes, 9% Anseriformes, and 1% other groups) at three locations on the Brazilian Amazon coast, a region that serves as a major stop-over and wintering site along the Atlantic Americas flyway. Real-time RT-PCR identified five samples as positive; however, no AIV isolates could be obtained and Illumina sequencing did not produce gene sequences that would allow further characterization of the virus.