Scientific production on monkeypox crawls in the country

Scientists linked to Brazilian research institutions have published at least six scientific articles on monkeypox this year. Although the subject has grown around here, production is still in its infancy, which may be related to the lack of specific public investments for research.

The works published so far have mainly involved researchers from USP, UFRJ and the Emílio Ribas (SP) and Evandro Chagas (RJ) hospitals. One of them was led by immunologist Ester Sabino, from USP, who gained notoriety for having sequenced the genome of the coronavirus in less than 24 hours at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. The genome is a kind of portrait of all genes.

This time, she coordinated the genome sequencing of the virus that causes monkeypox, following the same (improved) methodology she had previously used for Zika and the coronavirus. The “picture” came out even faster: the sample from the first case of monkeypox in Brazil arrived at her laboratory around 4 pm. By 11 am the next day, the genome was ready.

“The technology is now improved for any virus,” says Sabino. The work was published in June in the Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical, with the participation of colleagues from international institutions such as Imperial College London and the universities of Oxford and Edinburgh.

The main point of the study, says Sabino, is the methodology for mapping the virus genome. “If you don’t know the causative agent of an infection, treatment becomes even more difficult, as does the development of diagnostic tests and vaccines.”

Historically, Brazil subscribes to 29 publications on monkeypox — with the first article published in 2000. Now, in 2022, Brazilian researchers have published more on the topic than in the last five years (from 2017 to 2021) combined. The number of scientific articles by Brazilians on the subject —reviewed and public academic works— doubled compared to last year.

Globally, the amount of academic work on monkeypox increased ninefold as the disease became a global public health emergency. Last year, 35 scientific articles were published on the topic worldwide. This year, there are already 305 works.

The United States leads this academic production (with 84 scientific articles), followed by England (32), India and Italy (both with 21 works). In the ranking of production in the area, Brazil occupies 23rd place —behind countries like Colombia (16th) and Nepal (19th).

Among the works published by researchers from Brazil, there was also a position in the Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem (REBEn). In an editorial published in August, scientists argued that associating the disease with men who have sex with men raises fears of public harassment.

“Linking Sexual Orientation to Monkeypox Virus [varíola dos macacos] doesn’t make any sense, since there are communication options that can prove to be equally effective, such as, for example, focusing on the practice of sexual relations between infected individuals, without categorizing sexualities”, said the scientific responsible for the publication, Álvaro Francisco Lopes de Sousa , at the time of publication of the text.

The authors of the editorial —from Lisbon (Portugal) and from UFBA (Federal University of Bahia)— were anchored in historical facts such as the emergence of the HIV/AIDS virus about 40 years ago. At the time, targeting information to men who have sex with men contributed to delaying the diagnosis of those infected.

There is also participation of Brazilian scientists in studies on monkeypox with a focus on Europe and countries such as Pakistan. Few works, however, are focused on the national scenario — which may be related to the lack of specific resources for the theme.

To give you an idea, so far there are no specific public notices aimed at funding research on monkeypox in the major Brazilian science funding agencies. In the opposite direction, the resources for scientific research in the country have plummeted for some years.

Recently, through a recent Provisional Measure considered a “maneuver” by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), this year’s FNDCT (National Scientific and Technological Development Fund) budget of R$9 billion is limited to R$5.6 billion. —with an expected release of around R$ 2 billion.

The sequencing of the monkeypox virus genome, by immunologist Ester Sabino, for example, was included in a project of hers that was already underway on arboviruses (viruses transmitted by hosts such as mosquitoes). Funding was provided by Fapesp (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo).

Now, researchers from USP are dedicating themselves to cultivating the agent that causes monkeypox in cell lines. According to data from Plataforma Brasil, a national and unified database of research records involving human beings, there are about ten research projects on monkeypox approved by ethics committees across the country.

The scientific production data on monkeypox comes from the international database Web of Science, which brings together more than 12,000 scientific journals from around the world. It is the same used in the collection of data from the RUF – Ranking Universitário Folha. The extraction was performed on the last day 8. Data from Plataforma Brasil, from the Ministry of Health, were also analyzed.