Monitoring zoonotic viruses in the Amazon: The ViVErA Project
Hiran Satiro, Felipe Murta, Leticia Murase
In the Amazon, close interactions between people, wildlife, and the environment are part of daily life. These connections sustain local communities but also create opportunities for viruses to circulate between humans, animals, and ecosystems.
Monitoring infectious diseases in this region is particularly challenging. Many communities are located far from urban centers, where access to healthcare services and diagnostic resources is limited. At the same time, regular movement between Indigenous communities and nearby towns creates additional pathways for pathogens to spread.
In this context, strengthening disease surveillance becomes essential. The ViVErA Project, short for Vigilância de Vírus Emergentes na Amazônia (Surveillance of Emerging Viruses in the Amazon), was developed to investigate viruses with zoonotic potential among Indigenous populations in the Brazilian Amazon using a One Health approach. The study focuses on communities near the tri-border region between Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, an area that plays an important role in strengthening infectious disease surveillance within Brazil’s public health system.
The study takes place in two Indigenous communities, São Sebastião and Nova Aparecida, in the Alto Solimões region. It combines quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate exposure to respiratory, enteric, and systemic viruses circulating in these communities, including influenza virus, adenovirus, hantaviruses, arboviruses, and poxviruses.
A central part of the project is the weekly fieldwork carried out in these communities. Visits and sample collection are conducted by Hiran Satiro, MS, a researcher from the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Social and Qualitative Research (LIPeSQ). Each week, he travels to the communities to conduct surveillance, visit households, and collect samples that are later analyzed in the laboratory.
Location of the ViVErA Project study communities in the Alto Solimões region of the Brazilian Amazon, near the Brazil-Colombia-Peru tri-border area.
“Every week I visit the communities and go house by house to see if anyone has had symptoms such as fever, cough, or body pain during the previous seven days.”
During these visits, households are screened for individuals who have experienced symptoms within the previous week. When someone reports at least two symptoms, biological samples are collected, including blood samples and nasal and oral swabs. When malaria is suspected, a rapid diagnostic test is performed on site, so that positive cases can be reported quickly to the regional Indigenous Health District. Samples are stored in thermal boxes and transported from the communities to laboratory facilities, where they are processed and analyzed. More details on how fieldwork connects to laboratory analysis are available in this post.
Reaching remote communities
Reaching the communities requires long journeys and extensive planning. The trip to São Sebastião takes about 40 to 60 minutes by motorcycle from Tabatinga along dirt roads, followed by walking approximately 2 to 3 kilometers (1.2 to 2 miles) to visit all households. A firsthand account of these journeys is described in this post by Hiran. Reaching Nova Aparecida is more complex. Depending on the season, the journey may involve traveling by motorcycle to a river port and continuing by boat for up to two hours. During the dry season, part of the route may require traveling by a three-wheeled motocarro along muddy roads before reaching the port (photographs shared with permission).
Despite these challenges, the weekly visits have become an important point of contact between the research team and the communities. For many residents, traveling to the city to access hospitals or health services can take several hours. Regular visits bring health monitoring closer to where people live, allowing symptoms to be identified earlier and enabling faster response when needed.
During one of the ViVErA field visits, a 10-year-old child presented with a high fever of 39.8°C (103.6° F). A rapid diagnostic test was performed on site and confirmed malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax, the most common species in Brazil. Because the team was present in the community, diagnosis was immediate and treatment started within 18 hours. Without this active surveillance, diagnosis could have taken several days. During that time, the condition could worsen, increasing the risk of complications and the need for transfer to a distant urban center. This is what it means to carry out surveillance within the territory. It allows early detection and faster response when it matters most. See more photos here.
Over time, this continued presence has helped build trust with community members. Residents have welcomed the project not only because of the research, but also because the visits provide ongoing attention to local health needs. By combining field surveillance, laboratory analysis, and collaboration with regional public health institutions, the ViVErA Project contributes to a better understanding of viral circulation in the Amazon and supports ongoing efforts to strengthen disease surveillance and Indigenous health in the region.
ViVErA is a collaborative initiative involving researchers and public health partners from multiple institutions working on infectious disease surveillance and Indigenous health in Brazil and internationally. These collaborations support field surveillance, laboratory analysis, and coordination with regional public health authorities. For more updates from the ViVEra Project, follow @_lipesq_ on Instagram.
