Analyses of Early ZIKV Genomes Are Consistent with Viral Spread from Northeast Brazil to the Americas

The Americas, particularly Brazil, were greatly impacted by the widespread Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak in 2015 and 2016. Efforts were made to implement genomic surveillance of ZIKV as part of the public health responses. The accuracy of spatiotemporal reconstructions of the epidemic spread relies on the unbiased sampling of the transmission process. In the early stages of the outbreak, we recruited patients exhibiting clinical symptoms of arbovirus-like infection from Salvador and Campo Formoso, Bahia, in Northeast Brazil. Between May 2015 and June 2016, we identified 21 cases of acute ZIKV infection and subsequently recovered 14 near full-length sequences using the amplicon tiling multiplex approach with nanopore sequencing. We performed a time-calibrated discrete phylogeographic analysis to trace the spread and migration history of the ZIKV. Our phylogenetic analysis supports a consistent relationship between ZIKV migration from Northeast to Southeast Brazil and its subsequent dissemination beyond Brazil. Additionally, our analysis provides insights into the migration of ZIKV from Brazil to Haiti and the role Brazil played in the spread of ZIKV to other countries, such as Singapore, the USA, and the Dominican Republic. The data generated by this study enhances our understanding of ZIKV dynamics and supports the existing knowledge, which can aid in future surveillance efforts against the virus.

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Funding Information: This research was funded by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES) [Finance Code 001 and 88881.130749/2016-01], Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [439967/2016-3, 400830/2013-2, 440891/2016-7 and 311365/2021-3], Programa de Excelência em Pesquisa [420765/2017-4], Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos [MCTIC/FINEP/FNDCT 01/2016 ZIKA—0416006000] and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB) [PET0026/2013, APP0044/2016, and PET0022/2016]. L.M. received a Ph.D. scholarship from CAPES. R.K., G.S.R., V.B., M.G.R., A.B., and M.B.-N. are CNPq fellows. The funding organizations had no role in the study design, data collection, data interpretation, or writing of this report. B.V. was supported by a postdoctoral grant (12U7121N) of the Research Foundation—Flanders (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek). P.L. acknowledges support by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 725422-ReservoirDOCS), from the Wellcome Trust through project 206298/Z/17/Z and from the Research Foundation—Flanders (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek—Vlaanderen, G0D5117N, and G051322N). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.

Palavras-chave

arboviruses genomic surveillance phylogenetics vector-borne infections Zika QR Microbiology RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine Infectious Diseases Virology Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous) Epidemiology SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10362/164615

DOI

10.3390/v15061236

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Home collection (IHMT)

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