Keeping track of hidden dangers - The short history of the Sabiá virus

Abstract

Emerging infectious diseases are a global threat. In countries like Brazil, where biodiversity is high and public health conditions in terms of infrastructure and medical care are often precarious, emerging diseases are particularly worrisome. The lack of monitoring strategies to identify pathogens with the potential to cause outbreaks or epidemics is another problem in Brazil and other developing countries. In this article, we present the history of the Sabiá virus (SABV), a pathogen that was described in the 1990s in Brazil. Several aspects of the biology and ecology of the SABV remain unknown. The SABV has the potential to cause hemorrhagic fever in humans. To date, four cases of human infections have been reported worldwide; two were naturally acquired (both in Brazil), whereas the other two were linked to occupational exposure in the laboratory environment (one in Brazil and one in the USA). In this review, we summarize the basic biological and ecological characteristics of the SABV. This is the first work to gather all available data on the historical aspects involving the cases of SABV infection along with an update on its characteristic features.

Synanthropic rodents as virus reservoirs and transmitters

“…There have been two reports of this virus, caused by occupational exposure in a laboratory environment, one in Pará (Brazil) and the other in Connecticut (USA), both with non-fatal courses 175,176 . The 4th case was described in São Paulo (Brazil) in 1999 177 180 .…”

Land-use change and rodent-borne diseases: hazards on the shared socioeconomic pathways

“…Several of the identified hotspots are current areas known to be endemic for rodent-borne diseases. For example, an important area of HPS [ 64 ] and Brazilian haemorrhagic fever (Sabia virus, family Arenaviridae) were identified [ 65 ] located in the highly fragmented Atlantic Forest in southeast Brazil. There are at least nine hantavirus strains and 16 rodent species associated with these hantaviruses in this region [ 66 ].…”

Sabiá Virus–Like Mammarenavirus in Patient with Fatal Hemorrhagic Fever, Brazil, 2020

“…Little is known about the natural history of SABV infection. The wild reservoir species for this virus is still unknown but is probably a rodent (10). reported since 1994 including 2 in laboratory workers handling SABV samples, raising concern about the potential for aerosol transmission (10).…”