EDUARDO CESARAedes aegypti, which transmits dengue fever: the disease is spreading through the State of São PauloEDUARDO CESAR
For the first time, a team from the Adolfo Lutz Institute has isolated and identified a type 4 dengue fever virus (Denv-4). This virus was found in two people from the State of São Paulo: a 31-year old woman who lives in São José do Rio Preto, a city of 400 thousand inhabitants in the northern part of the state, and a 49-year old man who lives in Paulo de Faria, a town of 8,500 inhabitants, also located in the northern part of the state. The viruses were isolated in cell cultures, and were identified and confirmed by molecular biology techniques. In a brief announcement published in the January-February issue of Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo [tropical medicine journal], Iray Maria Rocco and other researchers from the institute warned about the possible existence of more severe forms of the disease, as three other virus serotypes have already been found in the region, having caused various outbreaks of dengue fever epidemic. The population of São Paulo State – and of other states – could be vulnerable, as the type 4 viruses have not been found there in the last 30 years. The type 4 virus circulated in the State of Roraima in 1981 and resurfaced in August 2010. It then spread to other states in the North and Northeast regions. In 2011, the virus was reported in the States of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
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