Genetic characterization of rabies virus circulating in crab-eating fox
(Cerdocyum thous) in the State of Paraiba, Northeastern Brazil
Abstract
Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease present in two thirds of all
countries, and causes the death of one person every 10 minutes
(~70,000 deaths/year). The reservoirs of the Rabies
Virus (RABV) are bats and canids, and it has also been found in other
animals, including Cerdocyon thous (crab-eating fox) and Pseudalopex
vetulus (hoary fox). Here we used Next Generation Sequencing (NGS),
phylogenetic, and in vitro/in vivo analyses, to characterized the genome
of a new subtype of RABV circulating in foxes of the Northeastern region
of Brazil. We verified that although these variants were similar to
existing strains from wild canids and domestic canines from Brazil, the
samples contained escape mutants, suggesting that it was a heterogeneous
virus population. In all, we used several molecular techniques to
characterize a new RABV strain circulating in wild-foxes in Northeastern
Brazil, and verified still manifested its notorious pathogenic
characteristics.