Luciano A Moreira

• PhD
• Oswaldo Cruz Foundation

Dengue virus, one of the most prevalent mosquito-borne flaviviruses affecting humans globally, is primarily transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which thrives in densely populated urban environments. Dengue incidence has surged in recent decades, becoming a major public health concern in many regions, particularly in Brazil, which has experie...

In 2024, the Americas region experienced the largest dengue outbreak on record and Brazil was among the worst affected countries, reporting 6.6 million cases and 6,200 deaths. We report the long-term entomological and epidemiological effectiveness of city-wide deployment of w Mel-strain Wolbachia -infected Aedes aegypti in Niterói, a city of half a...

Oropouche orthobunyavirus (OROV) is an emerging public health concern due to its expanding geographic range and increasing case numbers. In Brazil, 13,785 cases were confirmed in 2024, with an additional 3680 reported by January 2025, according to the Ministry of Health. Initially restricted to the Amazon region, OROV has recently been detected in...

Wolbachia introgression into Aedes aegypti mosquito populations has been shown to be effective in preventing dengue and is being evaluated for WHO prequalification. Monitoring the long-term introgression of Wolbachia ( w Mel)-positive Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, however, requires labor-intensive and costly BG-Sentinel traps (BG-traps). More affordabl...

Malaria continues to be a major public health challenge in tropical and subtropical regions. Anopheles aquasalis, a key laboratory model for malaria research, plays a critical role in the study of vector–parasite interactions. Although vector life traits and environmental factors such as age and resource availability can influence the transmission...

West Nile Virus (WNV) poses a significant global public health threat as a mosquito-borne pathogen. While laboratory mouse models have historically played a crucial role in understanding virus biology, recent research has focused on utilizing immunocompromised models to study arboviruses like dengue and Zika viruses, particularly their interactions...

The w Mel and w AlbB strains of the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia are being introgressed into Aedes aegypti populations as a biocontrol method to reduce the transmission of medically important arboviruses. Successful introgression of Wolbachia relies on both persistence of Wolbachia throughout the host life cycle and a high fidelity of maternal...

The incidence of chikungunya has dramatically surged worldwide in recent decades, imposing an expanding burden on public health. In recent years, South America, particularly Brazil, has experienced outbreaks that have ravaged populations following the rapid dissemination of the chikungunya virus (CHIKV), which was first detected in 2014. The primar...

Wolbachia pipientis is a maternally transmitted symbiotic bacterium that mainly colonizes arthropods, potentially affecting different aspects of the host's physiology, e.g. reproduction, immunity, and metabolism. It has been shown that Wolbachia modulates glycogen metabolism in mosquito Aedes fluviatilis (Ae. fluviatilis). Glycogen synthesis is con...

The global incidence of chikungunya has surged in recent decades, with South America, particularly Brazil, experiencing devastating outbreaks. The primary vector for transmitting CHIKV in urban areas is the mosquito species Aedes aegypti , which is very abundant in Brazil. However, little is known about the impact of locally circulating CHIKV genot...

Despite the considerable morbidity and mortality of yellow fever virus (YFV) infections in Brazil, our understanding of disease outbreaks is hampered by limited viral genomic data. Here, through a combination of phyloge-netic and epidemiological models, we reconstructed the recent transmission history of YFV within different epidemic seasons in Bra...

Despite the considerable morbidity and mortality of yellow fever virus (YFV) infections in Brazil, our understanding of disease outbreaks is hampered by limited viral genomic data. Here, through a combination of phyloge-netic and epidemiological models, we reconstructed the recent transmission history of YFV within different epidemic seasons in Bra...

Background Aedes aegypti, the main arboviral mosquito vector, is attracted to human dwellings and makes use of human-generated breeding sites. Past research has shown that bacterial communities associated with such sites undergo compositional shifts as larvae develop and that exposure to different bacteria during larval stages can have an impact on...

Despite the considerable morbidity and mortality of Yellow fever virus (YFV) infections in Brazil, as well as its widespread presence in non-human primate host, our understanding of disease outbreaks is hampered by limited viral genomic data. Determining the timing and spatial corridors of YFV spread, as well as the geographic hotspots that link th...

Background Introgression of genetic material from species of the insect bacteria Wolbachia into populations of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes has been shown in randomised and non-randomised trials to reduce the incidence of dengue; however, evidence for the real-world effectiveness of large-scale deployments of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes for arboviral...

Arboviruses (an acronym for “arthropod-borne virus”), such as dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and Chikungunya, are important human pathogens transmitted by mosquitoes. These viruses impose a growing burden on public health. Despite laboratory mice having been used for decades for understanding the basic biological phenomena of these viruses, it was onl...

Wolbachia pipientis is a maternally transmitted bacterium that mostly colonizes arthropods, including the mosquito Aedes fluviatilis, potentially affecting different aspects of host physiology. This intracellular bacterium prefers gonadal tissue cells, interfering with the reproductive cycle of insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and nematodes. Wolbac...

Background Introgression of the insect bacterium Wolbachia into Aedes aegypti mosquito populations been shown in randomised and non-randomised trials to reduce the incidence of dengue in treated communities, however evidence for the real-world effectiveness of large-scale Wolbachia mosquito deployments for arboviral disease control in endemic setti...

Background Arboviruses transmitted by Aedes aegypti including dengue, Zika, and chikungunya are a major global health problem, with over 2.5 billion at risk for dengue alone. There are no licensed antivirals for these infections, and safe and effective vaccines are not yet widely available. Thus, prevention of arbovirus transmission by vector modif...

Aedes aegypti, the main vector of multiple arboviruses, is highly associated with human dwellings. Females exhibit an opportunistic oviposition behavior, seldomly laying eggs on natural containers, but rather distributing them among human-generated breeding sites. Bacterial communities associated with such sites, as well as the compositional shifts...

Arthropod-borne viruses have a significant impact on public health worldwide, and their (re) emergence put aside the importance of other circulating arboviruses. Therefore, this scoping review aims to identify and characterize the literature produced in recent years, focusing on aspects of two arboviruses: Mayaro virus and Oropouche orthobunyavirus...

In the present work, we established two novel embryonic cell lines from the mosquito Aedes fluviatilis containing or not the naturally occurring symbiont bacteria Wolbachia, which were called wAflu1 and Aflu2, respectively. We also obtained wAflu1 without Wolbachia after tetracycline treatment, named wAflu1.tet. Morphofunctional characterization wa...

Mosquito breeding sites are complex aquatic environments with wide microbial diversity and physicochemical parameters that can change over time during the development of immature insect stages. Changes in biotic and abiotic conditions in water can alter life-history traits of adult mosquitos but this area remains understudied. Here, using microbial...

In this review we examine how exploiting the Wolbachia–mosquito relationship has become an increasingly popular strategy for controlling arbovirus transmission. Field deployments of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes have led to significant decreases in dengue virus incidence via high levels of mosquito population suppression and replacement, emphasizin...

Background The introduction of the bacterium Wolbachia (wMel strain) into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reduces their capacity to transmit dengue and other arboviruses. Evidence of a reduction in dengue case incidence following field releases of wMel-infected Ae. aegypti has been reported previously from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Indonesi...

Traditional methods of vector control have proven insufficient to reduce the alarming incidence of dengue, Zika, and chikungunya in endemic countries. The bacterium symbiont Wolbachia has emerged as an efficient pathogen-blocking and self-dispersing agent that reduces the vectorial potential of Aedes aegypti populations and potentially impairs arbo...

Traditional methods of vector control have proven insufficient to reduce the alarming incidence of Dengue, Zika and chikungunya in endemic countries. The bacterium symbiont Wolbachia has emerged as an efficient pathogen-blocking and self-dispersing agent that reduces the vectorial potential of Aedes aegypti populations and potentially impairs arbov...

Field release of Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti has emerged as a promising solution to manage the transmission of dengue, Zika and chikungunya in endemic areas across the globe. Through an efficient self-dispersing mechanism, and the ability to induce virus-blocking properties, Wolbachia offers an unmatched potential to gradually modify wild Ae....

The Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an arbovirus that circulates mainly in tropical forests or rural areas in Latin America and is transmitted mainly by Haemagogus mosquitoes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the vector competence, microbiome, and the presence of Wolbachia in three Aedes albopictus populations infected with MAYV. The vector compe...

The Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an arbovirus that circulates mainly in tropical forests or rural areas in Latin America and is transmitted mainly by Haemagogus mosquitoes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the vector competence, microbiome, and the presence of Wolbachia in three Aedes albopictus populations infected with MAYV. The vector compe...

Abstract The emergence of new human viral pathogens and re-emergence of several diseases are of particular concern in the last decades. Oropouche orthobunyavirus (OROV) is an arbovirus endemic to South and Central America tropical regions, responsible to several epidemic events in the last decades. There is little information regarding the ability...

In the present work, we established two novel embryonic cell lines from the mosquito Aedes fluviatilis containing or not the naturally occurring symbiont bacteria Wolbachia, which were called w Aflu1 and Aflu2, respectively. We also obtained wAflu1 without Wolbachia after tetracycline treatment, named wAflu1.tet. Morphofunctional characterization w...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

One of the pillars of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Vector Control Response 2017–2030 strategy is the engagement of communities. Among the priority activities, defined by 2022 by the WHO, is the development of plans for the effective engagement and mobilisation of communities in vector control. Novel technologies for arboviruses cont...

Background: The introduction of the bacterium Wolbachia (wMel strain) into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reduces their capacity to transmit dengue and other arboviruses. Evidence of a reduction in dengue case incidence following field releases of wMel-infected Ae. aegypti has been reported previously from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Indones...

Background Aedes aegypti control programs have failed to restrain mosquito population expansion and, consequently, the spread of diseases such as dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya. Wolbachia infection of mosquitoes is a new and promising complementary tool for the control of arbovirus transmission. The use of Wolbachia -infected mosquitoes, mass reared...

Mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus are vectors of many pathogens that greatly affect humankind. The maintenance of these mosquitoes in laboratory permit different studies that can help understanding their biology, as well as the vector-pathogen interaction. In addition to sugar meals, the blood feeding is...

Field release of Wolbachia -infected Aedes aegypti has emerged as a promising solution to manage the transmission of dengue, Zika and chikungunya in endemic areas across the globe. Through an efficient self-dispersing mechanism, and the ability to induce virus-blocking properties, Wolbachia offers an unmatched potential to gradually modify wild Ae....

Pathogens may manipulate their human and mosquito hosts to enhance disease transmission. Dengue, caused by four viral serotypes, is the fastest-growing transmissible disease globally resulting in 50–100 million infections annually. Transmission of the disease relies on the interaction between humans and the vector Aedes aegypti and is largely depen...

Mayaro virus (MAYV), a sylvatic arbovirus belonging to the Togaviridae family and Alphavirus genus, is responsible for an increasing number of outbreaks in several countries of Central and South America. Despite Haemagogus janthinomys being identified as the main vector of MAYV, laboratory studies have already demonstrated the competence of Aedes a...

One of the pillars of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Vector Control Response 2017–2030 strategy is the engagement of communities. Among the priority activities, defined by 2022 by the WHO, is the development of plans for the effective engagement and mobilisation of communities in vector control. Novel technologies for arboviruses cont...

Continuous climate changes associated with the disorderly occupation of urban areas have exposed Latin American populations to the emergence and reemergence of arboviruses transmitted by Aedes aegypti. The magnitude of the financial and political problems these epidemics may bring to the future of developing countries is still ignored. Due to the l...

Background: Rio de Janeiro and Niterói are neighbouring cities in southeastern Brazil which experience large dengue epidemics every 2 to 5 years, with >100,000 cases notified in epidemic years. Costs of vector control and direct and indirect costs due to the Aedes -borne diseases dengue, chikungunya and Zika were estimated to total $650 million USD...

Viral diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, known as arboviruses, pose a significant threat to human life and are a major burden on many health systems around the world. Currently, arbovirus control strategies rely on insecticides or vector source reduction and, in the absence of effective, accessible and affordable vaccines, mainly on symptomatic ba...

Newly emerging or re-emerging arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are important causes of human morbidity and mortality worldwide. Arboviruses such as Dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), Chikungunya (CHIKV), and West Nile virus (WNV) have undergone extensive geographic expansion in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. In the Americas the m...

Arboviruses or arthropod-borne viruses, such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya represent a huge burden for tropical and sub-tropical human populations. It has been estimated that, every year, 390 million new cases of arboviruses occur in 128 countries and 3.9 billion people are at risk. Vector control strategies are based on mechanical destruction of...

Background: Rio de Janeiro and Niterói municipalities in southeastern Brazil experience large dengue epidemics every 2 to 5 years, with >100,000 cases notified in epidemic years. Costs of vector control and direct and indirect costs due to the Aedes -borne diseases dengue, chikungunya and Zika were estimated to total $650 million USD in 2016, but t...

The mosquito Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) is the primary urban vector for dengue, currently the most rapidly spreading vector-borne disease in the world. Host seeking is intimately linked to disease transmission, relying on the ability of female to locate a human host and successfully blood feed. In mosquitoes, pathogen infection has been dem...

Newly emerging or re-emerging arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are important causes of human morbidity and mortality nearly worldwide. Arboviruses such as Dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), Chikungunya (CHIKV) and West Nile virus (WNV) underwent an extensive geographic expansion in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. In the Americas t...

Background Wolbachia’s ability to restrict arbovirus transmission makes it a promising tool to combat mosquito-transmitted diseases. Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti are currently being released in locations such as Brazil, which regularly experience concurrent outbreaks of different arboviruses. A. aegypti can become co-infected with, and transmit...

Brazil has experienced several arbovirus outbreaks in recent years, among which yellow fever stands out. The state of Minas Gerais faced outbreaks of sylvatic yellow fever in 2017 and 2018, with 1002 confirmed cases and 340 deaths. This work presents the results of survey efforts to detect the yellow fever virus in mosquitoes from two conservation...

Background: Aedes aegypti is a major disease vector in urban habitats, involved in the transmission of dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Despite innumerous attempts to contain disease outbreaks, there are neither efficient vaccines nor definite vector control methods nowadays. In recent years, an innovative strategy to control arboviruses, which explo...

Background : Yellow fever outbreaks have re-emerged in Brazil during 2016-18, with mortality rates up to 30%. Although urban transmission has not been reported since 1942, the risk of re-urbanization of yellow fever is significant, as Aedes aegypti is present in most tropical and sub-tropical cities in the World and still remains the main vector of...

Background : Yellow fever outbreaks have re-emerged in Brazil during 2016-18, with mortality rates up to 30%. Although urban transmission has not been reported since 1942, the risk of re-urbanization of yellow fever is significant, as Aedes aegypti is present in most tropical and sub-tropical cities in the World and used to be the main vector in th...

New possibilities for vector-borne disease control are revealed by Duvall et al. (2019), who link host-seeking behavioral modulation in Aedes aegypti to neuropeptide Y (NPY)-like receptor 7. Small-molecule screening yields agonist compounds able to activate NPYLR7 and suppress attraction to hosts.

Background The leishmaniases are important neglected diseases caused by Leishmania spp. which are transmitted by sand flies, Lutzomyia longipalpis being the main vector of visceral leishmaniasis in the Americas. The methodologies for leishmaniasis control are not efficient, causing 1.5 million reported cases annually worldwide, therefore showing th...

Background Traditional vector control approaches such as source reduction and insecticide spraying have limited effect on reducing Aedes aegypti population. The endosymbiont Wolbachia is pointed as a promising tool to mitigate arbovirus transmission and has been deployed worldwide. Models predict a rapid increase on the frequency of Wolbachia-posit...

Repeated measures analysis (with clutch size as the repeatedly measured variable) of the square-root of the number of eggs laid by successful Aedes aegypti females in the first five oviposition cycles. (DOCX)

Frequency of Wolbachia-positive offspring during the first and fourth clutches of their relatives. Data gathered from 1932 individually screened larvae. (TIF)

Analysis of variance of the influence of kdr frequency, Wolbachia presence and density on the survival of Aedes aegypti females. (DOCX)

Ombrothermic curve of Tubiacanga during the 20 weeks of the first Wolbachia release in Rio de Janeiro. Bars represent weekly rainfall, solid line the mean temperature, the dotted line represents the average maximum temperature and dashed line represent the peak temperature measured 5 km from Tubiacanga. (TIF)

Schematic view of the backcrossing designed to produce an Aedes aegypti population resistant to pyrethroids for new releases in areas where wild mosquito population is highly resistant to insecticides (in this case Urca). (TIF)

Quality control of released wMelBr mosquitoes. (A) Wing size length of Aedes aegypti males (A) and females (B) released in the 20 weeks of Wolbachia deployment in Tubiacanga. Each week had 30 individuals randomly selected. The asterisk shows significance when released mosquitoes had wing length significantly bigger than wild-caught ones. (C) Mean a...

The frequencies of NavR1 and NavR2 alleles and genotypic frequency in wMelRio strain colony maintained under lab conditions during the second release in Tubiacanga. The two columns on the right represent the frequency of kdr alleles in the field population, week 34 representing the period between wMelBr and wMelRio releases, and week 51 during the...

Allelic frequency of the susceptible wild-type (NavS), the kdr allele with a substitution restricted to the 1534 position (NavR1), or concurrent substitutions in both 1534 and 1016 sites (NavR2) during backcrossing to produce the strain wMelBr. (TIF)

Profile of wMelRio and three Ae. aegypti mosquitoes from local field populations (Tubiacanga, Jurujuba and Urca) exposed to two adulticides: (A) the organophosphate malathion (mg/m2) and (B) the pyrethroid deltamethrin (mg/m2) with an exposure of 120 minutes. The dose used to evaluate the resistance ratio of mosquito populations to both insecticide...

Dose x mortality profile in Aedes aegypti adult females exposed to a gradient of concentrations of the larvicide Temephos for one hour, with mortality scored 24h later. (TIF)

Profile of wMelBr, wMelRio and three Ae. aegypti mosquitoes from local field populations (Tubiacanga, Jurujuba and Urca) exposed to two larvicides: (A) diflubenzuron (μg/L) and (B) the organophosphate temephos (mg/mL). Diflubenzuron is currently employed by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. (DOCX)

Logistic regression analysis of the influence of mosquito age, kdr frequency, Wolbachia presence and density on laying at least one egg during the first five clutches. (DOCX)

Dengue virus (DENV) is an arbovirus transmitted to humansby Aedes mosquitoes. In the insect vector, the small interferingRNA (siRNA) pathway is an important antiviral mechanismagainst DENV. However, it remains unclear when andwhere the siRNA pathway acts during the virus cycle. Here,we show that the siRNA pathway fails to efficiently silenceDENV in...

Wolbachia, an intracellular endosymbiont present in up to 70% of all insect species, has been suggested as a sustainable strategy for the control of arboviruses such as Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya. As Mayaro virus outbreaks have also been reported in Latin American countries, the objective of this study was to evaluate the vector competence of Bra...

Background: Mosquito-borne diseases are rapidly spreading to vast territories, putting at risk most of the world's population. A key player in this scenario is Aedes aegypti, a hematophagous species which hosts and transmits viruses causing dengue and other serious illnesses. Since vector control strategies relying only on insecticides have proven...

The bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis, more commonly referred to as Wolbachia, represents a promising agent of mosquito biological control that could potentially reduce mortality and morbidity associated with mosquito-transmitted pathogens including the parasites that cause malaria, and the viruses that cause dengue, chikungunya, and West...

The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia spreads rapidly through populations of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, and strongly inhibits infection with key human pathogens including the dengue and Zika viruses. Mosquito control programs aimed at limiting transmission of these viruses are ongoing in multiple countries, yet there is a dearth of mass rearing infr...