Wild mammals involved in the transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi and food sources of Triatoma sherlocki in an endemic region of northeastern Brazil

The present study, carried out in the municipality of Gentio do Ouro, Bahia, Brazil aimed to evaluate which wild mammals may be involved in the transmission of T. cruzi and which are the blood sources for triatomines collected in the study area. PCR analysis of 31 wild mammals captured revealed T. c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical and veterinary entomology 2023-06, Vol.37 (2), p.396-406
Main Authors: Santos, Flavia, Magalhaes‐Junior, Jairo Torres, Oliveira Carneiro, Ianei, Lambert, Sabrina Mota, Silva Souza, Bárbara Maria Paraná, Pauda, Alini Dias, Freitas, Marcondes Pessoa, Franke, Carlos Roberto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Brazil - epidemiology
Chagas Disease - epidemiology
Chagas Disease - veterinary
Chagas' disease
Didelphis albiventris
Disease control
Epidemics
Food sources
Humans
Kerodon rupestris
Mammals
Opossums
Polymerase chain reaction
Protozoa
Public health
Rats
Rodentia
Rodents
sylvatic cycle
Thrichomys
Thrichomys sp
Triatoma
triatomines
Trypanosoma
Trypanosoma cruzi
Vectors (disease)
Wildlife conservation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The present study, carried out in the municipality of Gentio do Ouro, Bahia, Brazil aimed to evaluate which wild mammals may be involved in the transmission of T. cruzi and which are the blood sources for triatomines collected in the study area. PCR analysis of 31 wild mammals captured revealed T. cruzi infection in 6.4% (2/31): one specimen of the opossum Didelphis albiventris (1/3) and one of the rodent Kerodon rupestris (1/5); despite being more frequent in the area, no specimen of the rodent Thrichomys sp. (0/23) was infected. A total of 169 triatomines were captured. The conclusive detection of food sources was possible only for Triatoma sherlocki Papa et al., 2002 (n = 56), with evidence for: K. rupestris (35.7%), Gallus (17.9%), D. albiventris (14.3%), Homo sapiens (14.3%), Tropidurus hispidus (7.1%), Leopardus geoffroyi (5.3%), Conepatus semistriatus (1.8%), Thrichomys inermis (1.8%) and Rattus norvegicus (1.8%). Triatomines of the species T. sherlocki showed food eclecticism, including feeding on humans, with some of them being captured at dwellings. These facts make this triatomine a potential link for the transmission of T. cruzi between wild and anthropic environments, highlighting a latent risk of the reemergence of Chagas disease outbreaks. Food eclecticism was detected for Triatoma sherlocki studied specimens; Triatoma sherlocki seems to be circulating between the anthropic and wild environments and linking distinct cycles of Trypanosoma cruzi; Natural infection of Didelphis albiventris by Trypanosoma cruzi was recorded here; Natural infection of Kerodon rupestris by Trypanosoma cruzi was recorded here; Data analysis indicates that there is a latent risk for the transmission of Chagas disease in the region studied.
ISSN:0269-283X
1365-2915
DOI:10.1111/mve.12641