Severino Mendes de Azevedo Junior

West Nile virus surveillance, Brazil, 2008-2010

BACKGROUND West Nile virus (WNV) is an emergent pathogen that is widely distributed in North and Central America. The recent introduction in South America has focused attention on the spread of WNV across Southern American countries. The transmission network involves mosquitoes, birds, horses and humans. METHODS The serological evaluation of sera from 678 equids and 478 birds was performed using a WNV-specific blocking ELISA, and only the positive results were confirmed by plaque reduction neutralisation tests (PRNTs). Molecular analysis was performed on sera from 992 healthy equids and on 63 macerates of brains from equids that died of encephalitis and had previously tested negative for other pathogens. We also tested swabs from 928 birds. The samples analysed were collected in different biomes of Brazil. RESULTS We identified WNV antibodies by ELISA in thirteen equids and five birds, and PRNT90 confirmed WNV positivity in four equid samples collected in 2009 in an area between the Amazon and the Pantanal. None of the ELISA positive bird samples were confirmed by PRNT90, and all samples tested by RT-PCR were negative. CONCLUSION WNV circulation is confirmed by this large scale survey even in the absence of detection of clinical cases.

Avian Influenza Virus (H11N9) in Migratory Shorebirds Wintering in the Amazon Region, Brazil

Aquatic birds are the natural reservoir for avian influenza viruses (AIV). Habitats in Brazil provide stopover and wintering sites for water birds that migrate between North and South America. The current study was conducted to elucidate the possibility of the transport of influenza A viruses by birds that migrate annually between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In total, 556 orotracheal/cloacal swab samples were collected for influenza A virus screening using real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR). The influenza A virus-positive samples were subjected to viral isolation. Four samples were positive for the influenza A matrix gene by rRT-PCR. From these samples, three viruses were isolated, sequenced and characterized. All positive samples originated from a single bird species, the ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres), that was caught in the Amazon region at Caeté Bay, Northeast Pará, at Ilha de Canelas. To our knowledge, this is the first isolation of H11N9 in the ruddy turnstone in South America.

Monitoramento do maçarico-branco, Calidris alba (Pallas) (Aves, Scolopacidae), através de recuperações de anilhas coloridas, na Coroa do Avião, Igarassu, Pernambuco, Brasil

Programas de marcacao de especies migratorias vem sendo desenvolvidos desde a decada de 1980, dentre eles o PASP Pan-American Shorebirds Programs, o qual, consistia na marcacao de aves migratorias nearticas com aneis e bandeirolas coloridas possibilitando formacao de codigos individuais permitindo a observacao das aves marcadas sem que necessitasse capturar. Esta pesquisa objetivou a recuperacao de codigos do PASP de individuos de Calidris alba (Pallas 1764) entre os anos de 1993 a 1995 na Coroa do Aviao. Essas recuperacoes visuais demonstraram a fidelidade de Calidris alba ao seu sitio de invernada, a Coroa do Aviao. O alto percentual de recuperacoes de Calidris alba, bem como, as recuperacoes de individuos anilhados na Lagoa do Peixe e em algumas areas de invernada nos Estados Unidos, demonstram a utilizacao da rota do Atlântico e reforca a ideia de que bandos provenientes da costa leste do Alaska migram por esta rota. A idade maxima estimada para Calidris alba durante esta pesquisa foi de 11 anos, nada se tem sobre a idade desta especie em bibliografias especificas no estudo de Scolopacidae.

Migration routes and non-breeding areas of Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) from the Azores

Abstract We describe the migration routes and non-breeding areas of Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) from the Azores Archipelago, based on ringing (banding) recoveries and tracking of three birds using geolocators. Over 20 years, there have been 55 transatlantic recoveries of Common Terns from the Azores population: six from Argentina and 49 from Brazil. The three tracked birds migrated south in different months (August, September, November), but the northern migration was more synchronous, with all leaving in April. The birds were tracked to three areas of the South American coast: the male spent November—April on the northern Brazilian coast (13°N–2°S), whereas the two females first spent some time off central-eastern Brazil (4–16°S; one for 1 week, the other for 3 months) and then moved south to the coast of south-eastern Brazil, Uruguay and northern Argentina (24–39°S). Although caution is needed given the small sample size and errors associated with geolocation, the three tracked terns potentially travelled a total of ∼23 200 km to and returning from their non-breeding areas, representing an average movement of ∼500 km day−1. With the exception of Belém, in northern Brazil, and Lagoa do Peixe, in southern Brazil, the coastal areas used by the tracked birds were also those with concentrations of ringing recoveries, confirming their importance as non-breeding areas for birds from the Azores.