Discovery of a Rodent Hepacivirus in the Brazilian Amazon.

ABSTRACT: In the eastern Brazilian Amazon, the Viseu municipality has almost 70% of its territory deforested. Monitoring viruses from wildlife hosts enables the prevention and control of epizootic events and outbreaks. Seven samples from three marsupials and two rodents were screened by high-throughput sequencing for virome analysis. The three samples from the two Proechimys roberti rodents, one from the liver, one from the brain, and one from a pooled viscera sample, showed the highest results in terms of viral abundance and richness. From these we obtained two strains of a new rodent hepacivirus (RHV), which belongs to a new putative genotype of an unclassified RHV species previously described in Panama and Northeast Brazil. The findings expand the host range of the cited RHV species, imply

SUBMITTER: Prestes NGO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12197313 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature