scholarly journals Genetic variation of Aedes aegypti populations from Ecuador

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varsovia Cevallos ◽  
Denisse Benítez ◽  
Josefina Coloma ◽  
Andrés Carrazco ◽  
Chunling Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractThis is the first genetic analysis in Ecuador of Aedes aegypti using fragments of mitochondrial genes, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4) and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI). A total of 154 mosquitoes from 23 localities were collected in the Pacific coastal lowlands, Amazon basin lowlands, and the Galápagos Islands from 2012 to 2019. The analysis of fragments of the genes COI (672 bp) and ND4 (262 bp) and concatenated analysis of both COI and ND4 showed two haplotypes (H1, H2) present in Ecuador mainland and the Galápagos Islands. The phylogenetic analysis identified two well-supported clades. Combined analysis of both genes from ten localities also resulted in two haplotypes. Nucleotide diversity, neutrality tests (Tajima’s test D, Fu and Li’s F*and D*) and AMOVA analysis of the entire data set suggest balancing selection for both genes. The results indicate genetic variation without geographical restriction. COI-H1 grouped with sequences from the Americas, West and Central Africa, East Africa, Asia, and Australia. ND4-H1 grouped with similar sequences from the Americas, Asia and West Africa. COI-H2 grouped with sequences from Asia and the Americas. ND4-H2 grouped with sequences from the Americas. We report overlapping peaks in four sequences that suggest heteroplasmy in the individuals. The origin of the populations of Aedes aegypti in Ecuador show African genetic origin and are widely present in several countries in the Americas. One of the genetic variants is more common in all the localities and the two haplotypes are distributed indistinctly in the three geographical sampled areas in Ecuador.

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Marks

Yaws is one of the three endemic treponematoses and is recognised by the World Health Organization as a neglected tropical disease. Yaws is currently reported in 15 countries in the Pacific, South-East Asia, West and Central Africa, predominantly affects children, and results in destructive lesions of the skin and soft tissues. For most of the twentieth century penicillin-based treatment was the standard of care and resistance to penicillin has still not been described. Recently, oral azithromycin has been shown to be an effective treatment for yaws, facilitating renewed yaws eradication efforts. Resistance to azithromycin is an emerging threat and close surveillance will be required as yaws eradication efforts are scaled up globally.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. e0008216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constância F. J. Ayres ◽  
Gonçalo Seixas ◽  
Sílvia Borrego ◽  
Cátia Marques ◽  
Inilça Monteiro ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Sadie Ryan ◽  
Catherine Lippi ◽  
Ryan Nightingale ◽  
Gabriela Hamerlinck ◽  
Mercy Borbor-Cordova ◽  
...  

Dengue fever is an emerging infectious disease in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, with the first cases reported in 2002 and subsequent periodic outbreaks. We report results of a 2014 pilot study conducted in Puerto Ayora (PA) on Santa Cruz Island, and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (PB) on San Cristobal Island. To assess the socio-ecological risk factors associated with dengue and mosquito vector presence at the household level, we conducted 100 household surveys (50 on each island) in neighborhoods with prior reported dengue cases. Adult mosquitoes were collected inside and outside the home, larval indices were determined through container surveys, and heads of households were interviewed to determine demographics, self-reported prior dengue infections, housing conditions, and knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding dengue. Multi-model selection methods were used to derive best-fit generalized linear regression models of prior dengue infection, and Aedes aegypti presence. We found that 24% of PB and 14% of PA respondents self-reported a prior dengue infection, and more PB homes than PA homes had Ae. aegypti. The top-ranked model for prior dengue infection included several factors related to human movement, household demographics, access to water quality issues, and dengue awareness. The top-ranked model for Ae. aegypti presence included housing conditions, mosquito control practices, and dengue risk perception. This is the first study of dengue risk and Ae. aegypti presence in the Galápagos Islands.


1992 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gesa Hartmann-Schröder

During the Amsterdam Expedition to Ascension Island in 1989 eighteen species of polychaetes were collected, fifteen of which were already known to science. One could not be identified to species level and two were new to science: Aricidea (Aedicira) ascensionensis n. sp. and Notodasus arenicola n. sp. Four of the known species are widely distributed, three are circumtropicalsubtropical and one has a tropical-subtropical distribution in the Pacific and in the Atlantic Ocean. Another species is recorded from different regions in the Atlantic Ocean. The rest of the species were –.until now –.only known from their type localities, viz. West Indies, Angola, Persian Gulf, Galapagos Islands, and South Shetland Islands.


Captain Hall stated that the ship which he commanded had been constantly employed on a particular description of service, having no reference to such inquiries, but which occupied nearly all his time. The only stations, accordingly, at which the pendulum was swung in a satisfactory manner, were, 1st, the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific, lying 32§ miles N. of the Equator; 2ndly, St. Bias, on the N.W. shore of Mexico, in lat. 21-§° N., and not far from California; and, lastly, Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, in lat. 22°-55' S


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Nightingale ◽  
Catherine Lippi ◽  
Sadie J. Ryan ◽  
Mercy J. Borbor-Cordova ◽  
Marilyn Cruz B ◽  
...  

AbstractIntroductionDengue fever is an emerging infectious disease in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, with the first cases reported in 2002 and periodic outbreaks since then. Here we report the results of a pilot study conducted in two cities in 2014: Puerto Ayora (PA) on Santa Cruz Island, and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (PB) on Santa Cristobal Island. The aims of this study were to assess the social-ecological risk factors associated with dengue and mosquito presence at the household-level.MethodsIn 2014 we conducted 100 household surveys (50 on each island) in neighborhoods with prior reported dengue. Adult mosquitoes were collected inside and outside the home, larval indices were determined through container surveys, and heads of households were interviewed to determine demographics, prior dengue infections, housing conditions, and knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue. Multimodel selection methods were used to derive best-fit generalized linear regression (GLM) models of prior dengue infection, and the presence of Ae. aegypti in the home.ResultsWe found that 24% of PB and 14% of PA respondents self-reported a prior dengue infection, and more PB homes than PA homes had Ae. aegypti. The top-ranked model for prior dengue infection included human movement – travel between neighborhoods, between islands, and to the mainland; demographics including salary level and education of the head of household, and increase with more people per room in a house, house condition, access to water quality issues, and dengue awareness. The top-ranked model for the presence of Ae. aegypti included housing conditions, including the presence of window screens and air conditioners, mosquito control actions, and dengue risk perception.Discussion/conclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first study of dengue risk and Aedes aegypti in the Galápagos Islands. The findings that human movement within and between islands, and to and from the mainland, were important to reported dengue cases confirms concerns of this route of introduction and repeated transmission.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 627-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen R M Druffel ◽  
Sheila Griffin ◽  
Jeomshik Hwang ◽  
Tomoko Komada ◽  
Steven R Beaupre ◽  
...  

Radiocarbon (Δ14C) measurements of monthly samples from a Galapagos surface coral are among the first data sets from the new Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry laboratory at the University of California, Irvine. An average Δ14C value of −62 is obtained for 144 measurements of samples from monthly coral bands that lived from about AD 1760–1771 (±6 yr). High Δ14C values were found during January through March, when upwelling was weak or absent at the Galapagos Islands. Low Δ14C values were obtained mid-year during strong upwelling. The average seasonal variability of Δ14C was 15–25, which is greater than that at other tropical and subtropical locations in the Pacific Ocean because of intense seasonal upwelling at this site. Periods of sustained high Δ14C values were found during 1762–1763 and 1766. A spectral analysis revealed that the spectral density for the Δ14C data displays most of its variance at the 5-yr cycle, which is reflective of El Niño periodicity during the 20th century.


Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2623 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARÍA DEL SOCORRO GARCÍA-MADRIGAL

In the Tropical Eastern Pacific region, the gammaridean amphipods of the families Maeridae and Melitidae are represented by 28 species and 11 genera; the genus Elasmopus is the richest, with 13 species. The examination of approximately 3,250 specimens resulted in 12 new records from the Gulf of Tehuantepec, belonging to four genera, Elasmopus, Maera, Quadrimaera and Melita. All species are illustrated and described. Seven new species are described as: Elasmopus bastidai n. sp., Elasmopus karlae n. sp., Elasmopus lecroyae n. sp., Elasmopus marcelae n. sp., Elasmopus oaxaquensis n. sp., Maera umarae n. sp., and Melita bousfieldi n. sp. With these new species the genus Elasmopus from the Tropical Eastern Pacific is increased to 18 species that corroborates the hypothesis of Barnard (1979) “on the Pacific there are (sic) a mark of speciation of genus Elasmopus”. In addition, there are five new records from the Gulf of Tehuantepec: three species of Elasmopus and two of Quadrimaera. Also, the range distribution of Elasmopus temori Barnard and E. zoanthidea Barnard, is increased to the north from the Galapagos Islands to the Gulf of Tehuantepec; for E. tubar Barnard, Quadrimaera chinarra Barnard, and Q. reishi Barnard, there are new intermediate records between the Gulf of California and the Galapagos Islands. With the exception of the species of Quadrimaera, all known species represent the second record in the region after their first descriptions.


1987 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-62
Author(s):  
Edilson Pires de Gouvêa

During the study of the Carcinofauna of the Bahian Coast, some Brachyura Portunidae were found. Some of these animals were Callinectes arcuatus Ordway, 1863 which has its distribution restricted to the Pacific Ocean, from California to Peru and the Galapagos Islands. This is the first occurrence of this species reported from the Atlantic Ocean and the Brazilian Coast (Bahia, 38º50'Wand 12º50'S).


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