Dear Colleagues,


On behalf of all co-authors, I am pleased to announce the publication of our article about highly divergent herpesviruses in river dolphins from Brazil.



Exposto Novoselecki H, Catão-Dias JL, Ewbank AC, Navas-Suárez PE, Duarte-Benvenuto A, Lial HC, Costa Silva S, Sánchez-Sarmiento AM, Gravena W, da Silva VMF, Carvalho VL, Marmontel M, Bertozzi CP, Lanes Ribeiro V, Del Rio do Valle R, Marigo J, das Neves CG, Esperón F, Sacristán C. Highly divergent herpesviruses in threatened river dolphins from Brazil. Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 31;11(1):24528. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-04059-0. PMID: 34972839; PMCID: PMC8720088.

In this manuscript we surveyed the presence of herpesviruses by PCR in skin and/or blood samples of live-captured Amazon (Inia geoffrensis, n = 25) and Bolivian (Inia boliviensis, n = 22) river dolphins of the Amazon basin and in selected tissue samples of franciscanas (Pontoporia blainvillei, n = 27) stranded or bycaught in southeastern Brazil. Additionally, available franciscana tissue samples were examined by histopathology. Herpesvirus DNA was amplified in 13 Bolivian river dolphins (59.1%, 95% CI 38.5–79.6%) and 14 franciscanas (51.9%, 95% CI 33.0–70.7%). All Amazon river dolphins were herpesvirus-negative. Two different herpesviruses were found in Bolivian river dolphins: a previously known gammaherpesvirus detected in blood and/or skin samples of all positive individuals and a novel alphaherpesvirus in the skin of one animal. A new gammaherpesvirus was found in several franciscana samples—the first herpesvirus recorded in Pontoporiidae. Intranuclear inclusion bodies consistent with herpesvirus were observed in the lymph node of one franciscana. The high divergence among the obtained herpesviruses and those previously described can be explained by viral-host coevolution, and by the fact that these populations are fairly isolated.


You can discover more in the link:



https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-04059-0 



Best regards,

Carlos Sacristan 


DVM, MSc, PhD 
Laboratory of  Wildlife Comparative Pathology - LAPCOM
School of  Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences - FMVZ
University of São Paulo (Brazil)