BackgroundA descriptive study was carried out in an area of the Atlantic Forest with autochthonous malaria in the Parelheiros subdistrict on the periphery of the municipality of São Paulo to identify anopheline fauna and anophelines naturally infected with Plasmodium as well as to discuss their role in this peculiar epidemiological context.MethodsEntomological captures were made from May 2009 to April 2011 using Shannon traps and automatic CDC traps in four areas chosen for their different patterns of human presence and incidences of malaria (anthropic zone 1, anthropic zone 2, transition zone and sylvatic zone). Natural Plasmodium infection was detected by nested PCR based on amplification of the 18S rRNA gene.ResultsIn total, 6,073 anophelines were collected from May 2009 to April 2011, and six species were identified in the four zones. Anopheles cruzii was the predominant species in the three environments but was more abundant in the sylvatic zone.Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii specimens from the anthropic and sylvatic zones were positive for P. vivax and P. malariae. An. (Ker.) bellator, An. (Nys.) triannulatus, An. (Nys.) strodei, An. (Nys.) lutzi and An. (Ano) maculipes were found in small numbers. Of these, An. (Nys.) triannulatus and An. (Nys.) lutzi, which were collected in the anthropic zone, were naturally infected with P. vivax while An. (Nys.) triannulatus from the anthropic zones and An. (Nys.) strodei from the transition zone were positive for P. malariae.ConclusionThese results confirm that Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii plays an important role as a major Plasmodium vector. However, the finding of other naturally infected species may indicate that secondary vectors are also involved in the transmission of malaria in the study areas. These findings can be expected to help in the implementation of new measures to control autochthonous malaria in areas of the Atlantic Forest.

No abstract

São Paulo, a densely inhabited state in southeast Brazil that contains the fourth most populated city in the world, recently experienced its largest yellow fever virus (YFV) outbreak in decades. YFV does not normally circulate extensively in São Paulo, so most people were unvaccinated when the outbreak began. Surveillance in non-human primates (NHPs) is important for determining the magnitude and geographic extent of an epizootic, thereby helping to evaluate the risk of YFV spillover to humans. Data from infected NHPs can give more accurate insights into YFV spread than when using data from human cases alone. To contextualise human cases, identify epizootic foci and uncover the rate and direction of YFV spread in São Paulo, we generated and analysed virus genomic data and epizootic case data from NHPs in São Paulo. We report the occurrence of three spatiotemporally distinct phases of the outbreak in São Paulo prior to February 2018. We generated 51 new virus genomes from YFV positive cases identified in 23 different municipalities in São Paulo, mostly sampled from NHPs between October 2016 and January 2018. Although we observe substantial heterogeneity in lineage dispersal velocities between phylogenetic branches, continuous phylogeographic analyses of generated YFV genomes suggest that YFV

Background The mosquito Anopheles ( Kerteszia ) cruzii is the main vector of human and simian malaria in the Atlantic Forest. This species is usually abundant in the forests where it occurs, preferring to live and feed on canopies, behaviour known as acrodendrophily. However, in several studies and locations this species has been observed in high density near the ground in the forest. In this study, it was hypothesized that factors associated with anthropogenic landscape changes may be responsible for the variation in abundance and acrodendrophily observed in An. cruzii . Methods The study was conducted in a conservation unit in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Monthly entomological collections were performed from March 2015 to April 2017, and the resulting data were used with data from another study conducted in the same area between May 2009 and June 2010. Mosquitoes were collected from five sites using CDC and Shannon traps. Landscape composition and configuration metrics were measured, and generalized linear mixed-effect models were used to investigate the relationship between these metrics and variations in the abundance and acrodendrophily of An. cruzii . Results The model that showed the best fit for the relationship between landscape metrics and An. cruzii abundance suggests that an increase in the proportion of forest cover leads to an increase in the abundance of this mosquito, while the model that best explained variations in An. cruzii acrodendrophily suggests that an increase in total forest-edge length leads to greater activity by this species at ground level. Conclusion While the data indicate that changes in landscape due to human activities lead to a reduction in An. cruzii abundance, such changes may increase the contact rate between this species and humans living on the edges of forest fragments where An. cruzii is found. Future studies should, therefore, seek to elucidate the effect of these landscape changes on the dynamics of Plasmodium transmission in the Atlantic Forest, which according to some studies includes the participation of simian hosts. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12936-019-2744-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Yellow Fever (YF) is a severe disease caused by Yellow Fever Virus (YFV), endemic in some parts of Africa and America. In Brazil, YFV is maintained by a sylvatic transmission cycle involving non-human primates (NHP) and forest canopy-dwelling mosquitoes, mainly Haemagogus-spp and Sabethes-spp. Beginning in 2016, Brazil faced one of the largest Yellow Fever (YF) outbreaks in recent decades, mainly in the southeastern region. In São Paulo city, YFV was detected in October 2017 in Aloutta monkeys in an Atlantic Forest area. From 542 NHP, a total of 162 NHP were YFV positive by RT-qPCR and/or immunohistochemistry, being 22 Callithrix-spp. most from urban areas. Entomological collections executed did not detect the presence of strictly sylvatic mosquitoes. Three mosquito pools were positive for YFV, 2 Haemagogus leucocelaenus, and 1 Aedes scapularis. In summary, YFV in the São Paulo urban area was detected mainly in resident marmosets, and synanthropic mosquitoes were likely involved in viral transmission.