Surveillance and genotype characterization of zoonotic trypanosomatidae in Didelphis marsupialis in two endemic sites of rural Panama

Vanessa J Pineda; Kadir A González; Milixa Perea; Chystrie Rigg; José E Calzada; Luis F Chaves; Vanessa Vásquez; Franklyn Samudio; Nicole Gottdenker; Azael Saldaña

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2021.12.002

Surveillance and genotype characterization of zoonotic trypanosomatidae in Didelphis marsupialis in two endemic sites of rural Panama

Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2021 Dec 6:17:20-25. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2021.12.002. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud (ICGES), Avenida Justo Arosemena, Panama, Panama.
² Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad de Panamá, Panama.
³ Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
⁴ Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
⁵ Centro de Investigación y Diagnóstico de Enfermedades Parasitarias (CIDEP), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Panamá, Panama.

Abstract

Didelphis marsupialis has been reported as a competent reservoir for trypanosomatid parasites infections. The aim of this study was to measure Trypanosoma cruzi, T. rangeli, and Leishmania spp. infection rates and to characterize discrete typing units (DTUs) of T. cruzi in D. marsupialis from two Chagas disease endemic sites in Panama. Blood from 57 wild-caught D. marsupialis were examined from two rural communities, Las Pavas (N = 18) and Trinidad de las Minas (N = 39). Twenty-two (38.60%) opossums were positive for flagellates by general hemoculture. T. cruzi infection was confirmed by positive hemoculture and/or kDNA based PCR performed in 31/57 (54.39%) blood samples from opossums. T. rangeli infection was confirmed by hemoculture and/or TrF/R2-Primer PCR assay applied on 12/57 (21.05%) blood samples. Nine (15.79%) D. marsupialis harbored T. cruzi/T. rangeli coinfections. All opossums tested negative for Leishmania spp. by PCR assays based on kDNA and HSP70 gene amplification. There was a significant association between T. cruzi infection and site (Fisher exact test, p = 0.02), with a higher proportion of T. cruzi infected opossums in Las Pavas (77.78%, n = 14/18) compared to Trinidad de las Minas (43.59%, n = 17/39). A significant association was found between habitat type and T. cruzi infection in opossums across both communities, (X² = 6.91, p = 0.01, df = 1), with a higher proportion of T. cruzi infection in opossums captured in forest remnants (76%, 19/25) compared to peridomestic areas (37.5%, 12/32). T. rangeli detection, but not T. cruzi detection, may be improved by culture followed by PCR. TcI was the only DTU detected in 22 T. cruzi samples using conventional and real-time PCR. Eight T. rangeli positive samples were characterized as KP1(-)/lineage C. Trypanosome infection data from this common synanthropic mammal provides important information for improved surveillance and management of Chagas disease in endemic regions of Panama.

Keywords: Didelphis marsupialis; Leishmania sp. genetic characterization; Panama; Trypanosoma cruzi; Trypanosoma rangeli.