Utilização de ensaios moleculares na detecção de vírus em serpentes dos plantéis do Instituto Butantan

Abstract

Viruses can infect and cause diseases in snakes, causing outbreaks in herds and hindering the production of venom. Reptarenavirus were identified in cases of Inclusion Body Disease, and substantial evidence was presented suggesting the causal relationship of the virus with the disease, including co-infection of different virus species in the same animal. Chuviridae is a recently discovered family of negative-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses of variable genomic structure that infect several species of arthropods, including mosquitoes. This work was carried out as part of the implementation of methodologies for detection and identification of viruses in snakes kept in captivity in the herds of Instituto Butantan, which aim to optimize and improve protocols for handling and conservation of animals, in addition to the possibility of identifying new virus species. Sample collections were performed in vivo and/or post-mortem, considering the clinical situation of each animal and at the discretion of the veterinarian responsible for the vivarium. After extracting the nucleic acids, virus research was performed using the amplification of viral genome fragments by polymerase chain reaction and nucleotide sequencing by the Sanger method. The methodologies developed in this work were effective in detecting reptarenavirus and chuvirus in snakes kept in captivity at Instituto Butantan, which demonstrates the importance of implementing the diagnosis of viral diseases in the quarantine and sanitary surveillance of these collections.