Percorrer por autor "Almeida, Soraia"
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- Enhancing Entomological Surveillance: Real-Time Monitoring of Mosquito Activity with the VECTRACK System in Rural and Urban AreasPublication . Silva, Manuel; Gouveia, Bruna R.; Santos, José Maurício; Guerreiro, Nélia; Monteiro, Alexandra; Almeida, Soraia; Osório, Hugo CostaBackground: Mosquitoes from the Aedes (Ae.) genus are vectors of dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and other arboviruses, posing a significant public health threat. In 2005, Aedes aegypti was detected for the first time in Madeira Island, Portugal, in the city of Funchal, and has since become established in the region. In 2017, Aedes albopictus was detected for the first time in mainland Portugal. These invasion events require targeted entomological surveillance, which demands substantial human resources and a high management capacity for traditional vector monitoring. Following promising results obtained in laboratory conditions, a field-deployable model of a bioacoustic sensor for the automatic classification of mosquitoes integrated with a Biogents Sentinel trap as part of the VECTRACK system was tested in three regions in Portugal. Methods: The VECTRACK system was deployed in three locations: Funchal on Madeira Island, and Palmela and Algarve on mainland Portugal. Catch bags were manually inspected at intervals ranging from daily to weekly, resulting in a total of 38 captures in Madeira, 10 in Palmela, and 7 in the Algarve. Manual identifications were compared with those generated by the VECTRACK system, and the degree of correlation between the two datasets was assessed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results: A total of 176 mosquitoes were captured in Madeira, 732 in Palmela, and 143 in the Algarve. Both manual and sensor-based identifications demonstrated similar performance, with high correlation observed between the two methods. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients indicated high agreement for both female and male mosquitoes across all sites: Madeira: females = 0.84, males = 0.92, Palmela: females = 0.99, males = 0.84, Algarve: females = 0.98, and males = 0.99, all with p-values < 0.001. Conclusions: The VECTRACK system demonstrated strong performance in accurately distinguishing mosquitoes from non-mosquitoes, differentiating between Aedes and Culex genera, and identifying the sex of individual specimens. These promising results provide a solid foundation for the development of automated early warning systems and enhance mosquito surveillance strategies, which are critical for timely responses to potential vector-borne disease outbreaks.
- Prevention, protocols, and lab capacity: lessons from a norovirus outbreak in the AlgarvePublication . Sá, Regina; Roque, Joana; Marques Mendes, Pedro; Gonçalves, Inês; Sousa, Judite; Matos, Cátia; Júnior, Álvaro; Coelho, Anabela; Belo Correia, Cristina; Manageiro, Vera; Minetti, Corrado; de Sousa, Rita; Horta Correia, Filomena; Lopes, Carlos; Fonseca, Ana; Almeida, Soraia; Ferreira, Maria Jesus; Almendra, Tiago; des Neves, Natalie; Fernandes, Aida; Queiroz, Carolina; Maia, Carla; Bodião, Joaquim; Guerreiro, Ana CristinaThis brief report presents the findings of an epidemiological investigation into a large-scale outbreak of norovirus gastroenteritis that occurred in a hotel in Algarve, Portugal, in August 2022. A total of 244 cases were reported, primarily affecting Portuguese families, with the parents aged 40-50 years and the children aged 0-19 years. Reported symptoms included vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea. Norovirus genotype GI.3 [P3] was detected in stool samples from eight probable cases, while food samples tested negative for norovirus and common pathogenic bacteria. The investigation data collected suggest that the source of the outbreak was likely in the hotel's common areas, with subsequent person-to-person transmission in other areas. The final report emphasizes the importance of improving outbreak prevention and control measures, including the development of a foodborne outbreak investigation protocol, the establishment of an outbreak response team, and the enhancement of regional laboratory capacity.