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Aedes aegypti mosquito seen under a magnifying glass. (Photo: REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian)
The new study — by several authors, including the director of the Institute for Advanced Virology — found that the strain of dengue virus in areas with lower temperatures was different from that in areas with higher temperatures.
The dengue virus is most deadly at high temperatures, leading to severe illness, bleeding, low platelet counts, and even death. A new study was conducted with the support of the Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Medical Research to analyze the effect of temperature in changing the virulence of the virus.
The study was conducted by several authors, including Director of the Institute for Advanced Virology (IAV) Eswaran Srikumar. “The factors driving dengue virus evolution and selection for virulent variants are not yet clear,” said the study, published in “The FASEB Journal” on June 30.
The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research covering biology and the biomedical sciences.
The study explains that “higher environmental temperature shortens the exogenous incubation period of DENV (dengue virus) in mosquitoes, increases human-to-human transmission, and plays a critical role in outbreak dynamics.” The authors found that DENV grown at a higher temperature in C6/36 mosquito cells was significantly more virulent than virus grown at a lower temperature.
In a mouse model, the study found that the virulent strain caused increased viral infection (presence of viruses in the blood) and aggressive disease within a short time, bleeding, severe vascular permeability, and death.
The study stated that “a high inflammatory cytokine response, thrombocytopenia, and severe histopathological changes in vital organs such as the heart, liver, and kidneys were among the hallmarks of the disease.”
The strain of the virus in areas with lower temperatures has been found to be different from the strain in areas with higher temperatures. “Comparison of the whole genome with a low-temperature passerine strain identified major genomic alterations in the structural protein-coding regions as well as in the 3′UTR of the viral genome,” the statement stated.
“Our results show that virulence-enhancing genetic changes can occur in the genome of dengue virus under conditions of enhanced growth temperature in mosquito cells,” the study concluded.
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