Susceptibility of Mepraia spinolai and Triatoma infestans to different Trypanosoma cruzi strains from naturally infected rodent hosts

Acta Trop. 2007 Oct;104(1):25-9. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2007.07.005. Epub 2007 Jul 25.

Abstract

Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas disease, a zoonosis involving domestic and sylvatic mammalian reservoirs. Since scarce information has been published about the susceptibility of T. cruzi lineages to other triatomine species besides Triatoma infestans, we evaluate the susceptibility of T. infestans and Mepraia spinolai to different T. cruzi lineages, originated from naturally infected Octodon degus rodents as mammal host. Xenodiagnosis-PCR methods to detect T. cruzi positive rodents and genotyping to differentiate T. cruzi lineages (TcI, TcIIb, TcIId and TcIIe) identified singly and mixed T. cruzi infections. More infections and nearly all mixed infections were identified using the wild vector M. spinolai than T. infestans.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Chagas Disease / diagnosis
  • Chagas Disease / parasitology
  • Disease Susceptibility
  • Genotype
  • Insect Vectors / parasitology*
  • Octodon / parasitology*
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods
  • Rats
  • Reduviidae / parasitology*
  • Triatominae / parasitology*
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / isolation & purification
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / physiology*
  • Xenodiagnosis / methods
  • Zoonoses / parasitology