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News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 16-Jul-2025 20:11 ET (17-Jul-2025 00:11 GMT/UTC)

Certain citrus species produce repellent against huanglongbing

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new strategy for combating the vector of the bacterium that causes huanglongbing, also known as greening, considered the most destructive citrus disease in the world can be developed from the discovery that three citrus plants produce an essential oil that repels the insect.

Journal: Molecules

26 jaguars killed in Panama so far this year

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A combination of camera-trapping studies and interviews reveals that 26 jaguars have been killed this year in the tiny Republic of Panama. Panama connects North and South America and is an important bridge for wildlife and migrating birds.

Journal: Journal for Nature Conservation
Meeting: 20th Congress of the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation

Computer simulation reveals p53 weak spots and opens new avenues against cancer

Publicase International
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using microsecond timescale molecular dynamics simulations, a new study published in Scientific Reports reveals p53 weak spots and sheds light on the protein instability, which is linked to its tendency to aggregate and form amyloid structures.

Journal: Scientific Reports
Funder: Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support, Ministry Of Health, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, National Institute of Science and Technology for Structural Biology and Bioimaging

Nitrogen emissions in Latin America should be monitored, experts insist

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Business Announcement

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations and Latin American countries are generally the main sources of reactive nitrogen emissions in the form of ammonia and nitrous oxide, among others, due to fossil fuel burning, the use of nitrogen fertilizer, and untreated sewage. The impact of these emissions on the environment, climate and health has not been monitored, however.

Funder: São Paulo Research Foundation

Crop domestication is a balancing act

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The ancestors of leaf-cutter ants swapped a hunter-gatherer lifestyle for a bucolic existence on small-scale subsistence farms. A new study at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama revealed that living relatives of the earliest fungus-farming ants still have not domesticated their crop, a challenge also faced by early human farmers.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Smithsonian Institution, National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Danish National Research Foundation, Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship

Study suggests size of Zika epidemic may be underestimated

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study at the São José do Rio Preto Medical School (FAMERP) in São Paulo State, Brazil, suggests official statistics may underestimate the size of the epidemic caused by Zika virus. Some cases of Zika may be misreported as dengue. Uncertainty about the statistics tends to undermine the effectiveness of public policy to prevent and treat diseases, the authors also argue.

Journal: Journal of Clinical Virology
Funder: São Paulo Research Foundation

Novel schistosomiasis vaccine: New phase of clinical studies

Oswaldo Cruz Institute
Business Announcement

The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will start the phase II clinical trials of a vaccine for schistosomiasis, called 'Sm14 Vaccine.' The initiative is one of the health research and development projects prioritized by the World Health Organization (WHO), aiming to ensure the access of populations from developing countries to public health tools based on cutting edge technologies.

Funder: Brazilian Development Bank, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, World Health Organization, Orygen Biotecnologia S.A., Fiocruz

Zika virus detected in newborn until 2 months after birth

University of Sao Paulo Scientific Outreach Unit
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Physicians at the Santa Casa de Misericordia and researchers from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at University of São Paulo describe the case of a baby born with Zika infection in January 2016, who remained infected by the virus even two months and one week after birth. This is the first reported case of prolonged Zika infection in newborns.

Journal: New England Journal of Medicine
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Key substance for treatment of visceral leishmaniasis identified

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A Brazilian study conducted at the University of São Paulo's Ribeirão Preto Medical School (FMRP-USP) shows that stimulating the production of interleukin-17A (IL-17A), one of the cytokines released by cells of the immune system, can be an effective strategy for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis, considered one of the six most important parasitic diseases affecting humans.

Journal: Infection and Immunity
Funder: São Paulo Research Foundation

Study suggests that brain damages caused by Zika virus congenital infection go beyond microcephaly

D'Or Institute for Research and Education
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study published by Brazilian researchers indicates brain malformations induced by Zika virus congenital infection. More than microcephaly, the research indicates other neurological changes such as reduction in brain volume, cortical development abnormalities and ventriculomegaly.

Journal: Radiology