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de Bona S, Chi H, Bustamante RO, Botto-Mahan C. Trypanosoma cruzi infection reduces the population fitness of Mepraia spinolai, a Chagas disease vector. MEDICAL AND VETERINARY ENTOMOLOGY 2024; 38:73-82. [PMID: 37877753 DOI: 10.1111/mve.12700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
The hematophagous insect Mepraia spinolai (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) is naturally infected with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease in humans. In this study, we compared the demographic parameters of M. spinolai with and without T. cruzi infection. We collected the immature life table data of 479 M. spinolai individuals of control cohort (reared on mice without T. cruzi infection) and 563 M. spinolai individuals of treatment cohort (reared on mice with T. cruzi infection). Nymphs were maintained in individual compartments inside a growth chamber (26°C; 65-75%) until adult emergence; moulting and survival were recorded daily. For the adult life table study of the control, we used 24 pairs of adults from the control cohort. For the adult life table study of T. cruzi-infected cohort, 25 infected females were paired with 25 males from the control cohort. Life table data were analysed using bootstrap-match technique based on the age-stage, two-sex life table. The preadult survival rate (0.5282) of the control cohort was significantly higher than that of the infected cohort (0.2913). However, the mean fecundity of reproductive females (Fr = 22.29 eggs/♀) and net reproductive rate of population (R0 = 5.07 offspring/individual) of the 0.5th percentile bootstrap-match control cohort were not significantly different from those of the infected cohort (Fr = 23.35 eggs/♀, R0 = 3.77 offspring/individual). Due to the shorter total preoviposition period and higher proportion of reproductive female, the intrinsic rate of increase (r = 0.0053 d-1 ) and finite rate of increase (λ = 1.0053 d-1 ) of control cohort of M. spinolai were significantly higher than those of the T. cruzi-infected cohort (r = 0.0035 d-1 , λ = 1.0035 d-1 ). These results suggest that T. cruzi infection reduces the population fitness of the Chagas disease vector M. spinolai.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie de Bona
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Hsin Chi
- Department of Entomology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
- College of Plant Protection, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, China
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fujian, China
| | - Ramiro O Bustamante
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Carezza Botto-Mahan
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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San Juan E, Araya-Donoso R, Sandoval-Rodríguez A, Yáñez-Meza A, Quiroga N, Botto-Mahan C. Lizards and rabbits may increase Chagas infection risk in the Mediterranean-type ecosystem of South America. Sci Rep 2020; 10:1853. [PMID: 32024939 PMCID: PMC7002642 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-59054-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2019] [Accepted: 01/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of host-parasite relationships largely benefit from adopting a multifactorial approach, including the complexity of multi-host systems and habitat features in their analyses. Some host species concentrate most infection and contribute disproportionately to parasite and vector population maintenance, and habitat feature variation creates important heterogeneity in host composition, influencing infection risk and the fate of disease dynamics. Here, we examine how the availability of specific groups of hosts and habitat features relate to vector abundance and infection risk in 18 vector populations along the Mediterranean-type ecosystem of South America, where the kissing bug Mepraia spinolai is the main wild vector of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease. For each population, data on vectors, vertebrate host availability, vegetation, precipitation, and temperature were collected and analyzed. Vector abundance was positively related to temperature, total vegetation, and European rabbit availability. Infection risk was positively related to temperature, bromeliad cover, and reptile availability; and negatively to the total domestic mammal availability. The invasive rabbit is suggested as a key species involved in the vector population maintenance. Interestingly, lizard species -a group completely neglected as a potential reservoir-, temperature, and bromeliads were relevant factors accounting for infection risk variation across populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esteban San Juan
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, P.O. Box 653, Santiago, Chile
| | - Raúl Araya-Donoso
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, P.O. Box 653, Santiago, Chile
| | - Alejandra Sandoval-Rodríguez
- Departamento de Medicina Preventiva, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Andrea Yáñez-Meza
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, P.O. Box 653, Santiago, Chile
| | - Nicol Quiroga
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, P.O. Box 653, Santiago, Chile
| | - Carezza Botto-Mahan
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, P.O. Box 653, Santiago, Chile.
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Garcia V, Graterol J, López A, Ortiz S, Solari A. Influence of Trypanosoma cruzi (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) Infection on Mortality of the Sylvatic Triatomine Vector, Mepraia spinolai (Heteroptera: Reuviidae), Under Fasting. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 2019; 56:1384-1388. [PMID: 31322659 DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjz124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2018] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The etiologic agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi, is transmitted by hematophagous insect vectors that subsist on repeated blood meals over their lives separated by periods of fasting. Using naturally infected Mepraia spinolai, we measured the influence of parasite infection on this host vector's mortality during regular feeding and after fasting. After their capture, the insects were fed twice with uninfected mice to evaluate parasitic infection in their fecal samples by microscopic observation and PCR. Then the insects were subjected to a fasting period, followed by a third (final) feeding. After each feeding, a fecal sample was obtained to evaluate T. cruzi infection. To determine its progress through ontogeny, mortality and ecdysis of the infected and uninfected nymphs and adults were recorded on three occasions, over 140 d, and analyzed. Detections of infection by T. cruzi between the two first feedings increased, but this detection level was generally reduced after final feeding unless reinfected. For nymphs (stages III-V), their mortality was highest when infected after the fasting period, whereas adults were equally resistant to death after fasting when infected with T. cruzi. Metacyclic trypomastigotes were principally excreted in the fecal samples. Our results confirm that T. cruzi is pathogenic to its invertebrate hosts under nutritional stress conditions, when nymphs' mortality is higher while infected than uninfected when they were hungry. These results are epidemiologically important because T. cruzi harms the fasting vector M. spinolai, reducing its lifespan and competence as a disease vector, and thereby its rates of parasite transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Garcia
- Cellular and Molecular Biology Program, ICBM, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Casilla, Santiago, Chile
| | - Johsmar Graterol
- Cellular and Molecular Biology Program, ICBM, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Casilla, Santiago, Chile
| | - Angélica López
- Cellular and Molecular Biology Program, ICBM, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Casilla, Santiago, Chile
| | - Sylvia Ortiz
- Cellular and Molecular Biology Program, ICBM, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Casilla, Santiago, Chile
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Chile has recently been reclassified by the World Bank from an upper-middle-income country to a high-income country. There has been great progress in the last 20 to 30 years in relation to air and water pollution in Chile. Yet after 25 years of unrestrained growth, there remain clear challenges posed by air and water pollution, as well as climate change. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to review environmental health in Chile. METHODS In late 2013, a 3-day workshop on environmental health was held in Santiago, Chile, bringing together researchers and government policymakers. As a follow-up to that workshop, here we review the progress made in environmental health in the past 20 to 30 years and discuss the challenges of the future. We focus on air and water pollution and climate change, which we believe are among the most important areas of environmental health in Chile. RESULTS Air pollution in some cities remains among the highest in the continent. Potable water is generally available, but weak state supervision has led to serious outbreaks of infectious disease and ongoing issues with arsenic exposure in some regions. Climate change modeling in Chile is quite sophisticated, and a number of the impacts of climate change can be reasonably predicted in terms of which areas of the country are most likely to be affected by increased temperature and decreased availability of water, as well as expansion of vector territory. Some health effects, including changes in vector-borne diseases and excess heat mortality, can be predicted. However, there has yet to be an integration of such research with government planning. CONCLUSIONS Although great progress has been made, currently there are a number of problems. We suspect that the Chilean experience in environmental health may be of some use for other Latin American countries with rapid economic development.
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Cannet A, Akhoundi M, Berenger JM, Michel G, Marty P, Delaunay P. A review of data on laboratory colonies of bed bugs (Cimicidae), an insect of emerging medical relevance. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 22:21. [PMID: 26091944 PMCID: PMC4475256 DOI: 10.1051/parasite/2015021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2015] [Accepted: 06/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Cimicidae are hematophagous Heteroptera, feeding on human blood, that have been the subject of significant medical investigation. In particular, they have been colonized under laboratory conditions to study their medical relevance. Laboratory colonization of these bugs is a multifactorial phenomenon. Our goal was to conduct a comparative literature review to classify the published data, demonstrating preferred bed bug colony conditions. We show that physical factors including temperature, relative humidity and photoperiod, and physiological factors such as type and frequency of blood meals play important roles in laboratory colonies. Any change in these factors produces changes in life-cycle duration. Temperature and blood meal are the most important factors, with a marked impact on the life-cycle of laboratory populations, depending on the species. A wide range of temperatures (15–34 °C) and relative humidity (46–75%) with an average of 25 °C and 59% were found for these colonies. Two widely used blood sources for the colonies were rabbits and humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnaud Cannet
- Inserm U1065, Centre Méditerranéen de Médecine Moléculaire, C3 M, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, 151, Route St Antoine de Ginestière, BP 2 3194, 06204 Nice Cedex, France
| | - Mohammad Akhoundi
- Service de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Hôpital de l'Archet, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice, 06202 Nice, France
| | - Jean-Michel Berenger
- URMITE, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Inserm 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Université d'Aix-Marseille, 13385 Marseille, France
| | - Gregory Michel
- Inserm U1065, Centre Méditerranéen de Médecine Moléculaire, C3 M, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, 151, Route St Antoine de Ginestière, BP 2 3194, 06204 Nice Cedex, France
| | - Pierre Marty
- Inserm U1065, Centre Méditerranéen de Médecine Moléculaire, C3 M, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, 151, Route St Antoine de Ginestière, BP 2 3194, 06204 Nice Cedex, France - Service de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Hôpital de l'Archet, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice, 06202 Nice, France
| | - Pascal Delaunay
- Inserm U1065, Centre Méditerranéen de Médecine Moléculaire, C3 M, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, 151, Route St Antoine de Ginestière, BP 2 3194, 06204 Nice Cedex, France - Service de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Hôpital de l'Archet, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice, 06202 Nice, France
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Forlani L, Pedrini N, Girotti JR, Mijailovsky SJ, Cardozo RM, Gentile AG, Hernández-Suárez CM, Rabinovich JE, Juárez MP. Biological Control of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans with the Entomopathogenic Fungus Beauveria bassiana Combined with an Aggregation Cue: Field, Laboratory and Mathematical Modeling Assessment. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2015; 9:e0003778. [PMID: 25969989 PMCID: PMC4430541 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2014] [Accepted: 04/22/2015] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Current Chagas disease vector control strategies, based on chemical insecticide spraying, are growingly threatened by the emergence of pyrethroid-resistant Triatoma infestans populations in the Gran Chaco region of South America. METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS We have already shown that the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana has the ability to breach the insect cuticle and is effective both against pyrethroid-susceptible and pyrethroid-resistant T. infestans, in laboratory as well as field assays. It is also known that T. infestans cuticle lipids play a major role as contact aggregation pheromones. We estimated the effectiveness of pheromone-based infection boxes containing B. bassiana spores to kill indoor bugs, and its effect on the vector population dynamics. Laboratory assays were performed to estimate the effect of fungal infection on female reproductive parameters. The effect of insect exuviae as an aggregation signal in the performance of the infection boxes was estimated both in the laboratory and in the field. We developed a stage-specific matrix model of T. infestans to describe the fungal infection effects on insect population dynamics, and to analyze the performance of the biopesticide device in vector biological control. CONCLUSIONS The pheromone-containing infective box is a promising new tool against indoor populations of this Chagas disease vector, with the number of boxes per house being the main driver of the reduction of the total domestic bug population. This ecologically safe approach is the first proven alternative to chemical insecticides in the control of T. infestans. The advantageous reduction in vector population by delayed-action fungal biopesticides in a contained environment is here shown supported by mathematical modeling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Forlani
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata (INIBIOLP, CONICET, CCT-La Plata, UNLP), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Nicolás Pedrini
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata (INIBIOLP, CONICET, CCT-La Plata, UNLP), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Juan R. Girotti
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata (INIBIOLP, CONICET, CCT-La Plata, UNLP), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Sergio J. Mijailovsky
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata (INIBIOLP, CONICET, CCT-La Plata, UNLP), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Rubén M. Cardozo
- Instituto de Patología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina
- Coordinación de Gestión Epidemiológica, Ministerio de Salud Pública, Salta, Argentina
| | - Alberto G. Gentile
- Coordinación de Gestión Epidemiológica, Ministerio de Salud Pública, Salta, Argentina
| | | | - Jorge E. Rabinovich
- Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores (CEPAVE, CONICET, CCT-La Plata, UNLP), La Plata, Argentina
| | - M. Patricia Juárez
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata (INIBIOLP, CONICET, CCT-La Plata, UNLP), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, La Plata, Argentina
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Rabinovich JE, Kitron UD, Obed Y, Yoshioka M, Gottdenker N, Chaves LF. Ecological patterns of blood-feeding by kissing-bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae). Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2012; 106:479-94. [PMID: 21739038 DOI: 10.1590/s0074-02762011000400016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2011] [Accepted: 05/06/2011] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Host use by vectors is important in understanding the transmission of zoonotic diseases, which can affect humans, wildlife and domestic animals. Here, a synthesis of host exploitation patterns by kissing-bugs, vectors of Chagas disease, is presented. For this synthesis, an extensive literature review restricted to feeding sources analysed by precipitin tests was conducted. Modern tools from community ecology and multivariate statistics were used to determine patterns of segregation in host use. Rather than innate preferences for host species, host use by kissing-bugs is influenced by the habitats they colonise. One of the major limitations of studies on kissing-bug foraging has been the exclusive focus on the dominant vector species. We propose that expanding foraging studies to consider the community of vectors will substantially increase the understanding of Chagas disease transmission ecology. Our results indicate that host accessibility is a major factor that shapes the blood-foraging patterns of kissing-bugs. Therefore, from an applied perspective, measures that are directed at disrupting the contact between humans and kissing-bugs, such as housing improvement, are among the most desirable strategies for Chagas disease control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge Eduardo Rabinovich
- Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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