Abstract: We review the potential of Amazon forest as a source for circulation and maintenance of native arboviruses as well its capacity to host exotic arboviruses introduced in Brazil during their process of adapting to the Amazon environment. After a brief introduction about arboviruses isolated in Amazon region and description of the main arboviruses pathogenic to humans, we highlight the history of the last two exotic viruses introduced in Brazil - Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) - and their consequences to the public health. Finally, we discuss and hypothesize what will happen with them after the outbreak. We look to the past to predict the future.
Key words
arboviruses; new introduction; zika; chikungunya