01.21.2016
Fiocruz Paran? confirmed intrauterine transmission of zika
Developed by Carlos Chagas Institute (ICC / Fiocruz Paran?) in partnership with the staff of the Pontifical Catholic University of Paran? (PUC PR), a study that confirmed the inter-placental transmission of zika virus after sample analysis of the placenta of a pregnant woman Northeast, which presented compatible symptoms of virus infection and suffered a missed abortion - when the fetus stops developing in the womb - in the first trimester of pregnancy. The work of the Molecular Virology Laboratory at Paran? Fiocruz, one of sentinel laboratories of the Ministry of Health to the issue, also raised an important hypothesis to explain the dynamics of transmission from mother to fetus virus.
"The patient reported clinical symptoms indicating infection zika virus in early pregnancy and abortion suffered in the eighth week. We analyze the placental samples using a monoclonal antibody against flavivirus, which recognizes members of this genus, including dengue virus, zika virus, yellow fever among others, "explains virologist head of the Molecular Virology Laboratory at Paran? Fiocruz, Claudia Nunes Duarte dos Santos . The results of the first analysis were positive, and confirmed the presence of viral proteins in the placental cells (mother and fetus).
"To confirm that it was indeed Zika virus infection, tissue samples that showed morphological changes were removed and used for analysis by molecular techniques. We carried out the identification of the viral genome, by RT-PCR techniques in real time, confirmed that placenta cells Zika virus infection and placental transmission. Were also performed RT-PCR tests in real time to discard dengue infection, which were negative, "adds the researcher.
The joint research between Fiocruz and Paran? PUC PR revealed immunopositivity in Hofbauer cells present in the placenta. "In view of this, a reasonable hypothesis would be that the zika virus may be using the migratory ability of cells to reach the fetal vessels," says the pathologist Lucia Noronha, the PUC PR. The result of the study is the subject of an article to be published in the journal Memoirs of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute.
"While we can not relate the findings to cases of microcephaly and other congenital changes, this result confirms inequivico order to intrauterine transmission zika viruses and helps in the acquisition of knowledge about their biology and interaction with host cells and assist in design of antiviral estrat?gias to halt the peace process of infection and / or transmission, "concludes the virologist at the Paran? Fiocruz.
