Rotavirus A in wild and domestic animals from areas with environmental degradation in the Brazilian Amazon

PLoS One. 2018 Dec 18;13(12):e0209005. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209005. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Acute gastroenteritis is one of the main causes of mortality in humans and young animals. Domestic and mainly wild animals such as bats, small rodents and birds are highly diversified animals in relation to their habitats and ecological niches and are widely distributed geographically in environments of forest fragmentation in some areas of the Amazon, being considered important sources for viruses that affect humans and other animals. Due to the anthropical activities, these animals changed their natural habitat and adapted to urbanized environments, thus representing risks to human and animal health. Although the knowledge of the global diversity of enteric viruses is scarce, there are reports demonstrating the detection of rotavirus in domestic animals and animals of productive systems, such as bovines and pigs. The present study investigated the prevalence of Rotavirus A in 648 fecal samples of different animal species from the northeastern mesoregion of the state of Pará, Brazil, which is characterized as an urbanized area with forest fragments. The fecal specimens were collected from October 2014 to April 2016 and subjected to a Qualitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR), using the NSP3 gene as a target. It was observed that 27.5% (178/648) of the samples presented positive results for RVA, with 178 samples distributed in birds (23.6%), canines (21.35%), chiropterans (17.98%), bovines (14.6%), horses (8.43%), small rodents (6.74%), pigs (3.93%) and felines (3.37%), demonstrating the circulation of RVA in domestic animals and suggesting that such proximity could cause transmissions between different species and the occurrence of rearrangements in the genome of RVA as already described in the literature, associated to the traces of environmental degradation in the studied areas.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Domestic / virology*
  • Animals, Wild / virology*
  • Brazil
  • Cities
  • Feces / virology
  • Forests*
  • Rotavirus Infections / epidemiology
  • Rotavirus Infections / veterinary*
  • Rotavirus*
  • Urbanization

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) n. 2303800717 / 2013-52, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and Evandro Chagas Institute, Ministry of Health, Ananindeua, Brazil. BARROS BCV is a beneficiary of the Capes grant; Chagas EHN and Mascarenhas JDP are recipients of grants from CNPq. The authors would like to acknowledge the Amazon Support Foundation of the studies and research (FAPESPA) for funding (ICAAF166/2014). Thanks also to the Evandro Chagas Institute for financial and technicoscientific support for the execution of this work. Finally, thanks are due to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for awarding doctoral and pós doctoral' scholarships. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.