Interview with Pedro Fernando da Costa Vasconcelos, MD, PhD. Interview by Vicki Glaser.

摘要

Arboviruses and hantaviruses cover a vast area in the Pan-Amazonian region, which comprises the areas of the Amazonia in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and the Guyanas. The arboviruses include pathogens that represent important public health risks, such as the dengue, yellow fever, Oropouche, Mayaro, the equine encephalitis viruses (eastern; EEEV), (western; WEEV) and Venezuelan (VEEV), and Saint Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV). These have all been investigated by the IEC. Arboviruses are important causal agents of disease in humans. Some are associated with high morbidity and lethality rates, such as yellow fever and dengue, and others tend to cause significant morbidity without fatal outcomes, such as Oropouche, Mayaro, and the encephalitogenic arboviruses in Brazil. It is important to emphasize that the encephalitis-causing viruses-EEEV, WEEV, VEEV, and SLEV-have rarely caused illness in Brazil or in other South and Central American countries, except for Argentina, where cases of encephalitis have been reported. On the other hand, these viruses have been associated with outbreaks or epidemics of encephalitis in the United States, leading to considerable fatality rates.