American tripanosomiasis: a study on the prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma cruzi-like organisms in wild rodents in San Luis province, Argentina

Zoonotic Trypanosomes in Rats and Fleas of Venezuelan Slums

Rattus spp. are reservoirs of many human zoonoses, but their role in domestic transmission cycles of human trypanosomiasis is underestimated. In this study, we report trypanosome-infected Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus in human dwellings in slums neighboring Maracay, a large city near Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Blood samples of R. norvegicus and R. rattus examined by PCR and FFLB (fluorescent fragment length barcoding) revealed a prevalence of 6.3% / 31.1% for Trypanosoma lewisi (agent of rat- and flea-borne human emergent zoonosis), and 10.5% / 24.6% for Trypanosoma cruzi (agent of Chagas disease). Detection in flea guts of T. lewisi (76%) and, unexpectedly, T. cruzi (21.3%) highlighted the role of fleas as carriers and vectors of these trypanosomes. A high prevalence of rats infected with T. lewisi and T. cruzi and respective flea and triatomine vectors poses a serious risk of human trypanosomiasis in Venezuelan slums. Anthropogenic activities responsible for growing rat and triatomine populations within human dwellings drastically increased human exposure to trypanosomes. This scenario has allowed for the reemergence of Chagas disease as an urban zoonosis in Venezuela and can propitiate the emergence of atypical T. lewisi infection in humans.

Histopathological study in cardiac tissue of rodents infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, captured in suburbs of Mérida, México

Introduction: Trypanosoma cruzi is the causal agent of the American trypanosomiasis, an endemic disease in México. The commensal rodents Mus musculus and Rattus rattus are reservoirs of this parasite, which invades cardiac fibers and develops parasite nests causing various lesions. Histopathological studies in naturally infected rodents are scarce. Objective: To describe the types and frequencies of microscopic lesions in cardiac tissue of M. musculus and R. rattus infected with T. cruzi captured in Mérida, México. Materials and methods: The rodents were captured in suburban environments of Mérida. Cardiac tissue was extracted and processed by the paraffin inclusion technique and hematoxylin and eosin stained. The observation was made with a conventional microscope and all the lesions, as well as their degree, were identified. Results: Eight tissue samples of M. musculus and seven of R. rattus were studied. Parasite nests were found in 7/15, specifically 3/8 in M. musculus and 4/7 in R. rattus. The inflammatory infiltrate was the most frequent lesion. Other lesions were: Degeneration of cardiac fibers (8/15), congestion of blood vessels (6/15), and necrosis (5/15). Discussion: The lesions we observed have been described in experimental animal models and in humans with American trypanosomiasis. The inflammatory infiltrate has been identified as the most significant lesion in humans and reservoirs in the chronic stage of the disease. Conclusion: The lesions we described are associated with T. cruzi infection, which confirms that the rodents studied are reservoirs of this parasite.

Frequency of Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in Synanthropic and Wild Rodents Captured in a Rural Community in Southeast of Mexico

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of the Chagas disease, which is endemic in southeastern Mexico and is transmitted by the vector Triatoma dimidiata (triatomide). T. cruzi infect a great variety of domestic and wild mammals; rodents are considered one of the most important reservoirs of the parasite in the transmission cycles of T. cruzi. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of T. cruzi infection and to determine the parasitic load in synanthropic and wild rodents from the rural community of southern Mexico. A total of 41 blood samples and 68 heart tissue samples were collected from various species of synanthropic (n= 48 in 2 species) and wild rodents (n= 35 in 5 species). DNA was extracted from samples to detect the presence of T. cruzi through quantitative PCR (qPCR). T. cruzi DNA was detected in the 9.75% of the blood samples of the synanthropic species (4/41) (14.28%) for Rattus rattus samples and 25% for Ototylomys phyllotis samples, with an average of parasitic load of 4.80 ± 1.17 parasites/μL. In the case of heart tissue samples, 10.29% were positive for T. cruzi (7/68) (8.7% for Rattus rattus, 40% for Peromyscus yucatanicus, and 42.8% for Ototylomys phyllotis) with an average parasite load of 3.15 ± 1.98 eq-parasites/mg. The active and chronic infection of T. cruzi in synanthropic or wild rodents of the rural community of southern Mexico evidences the natural infection in these reservoirs which contribute to maintaining the agent in the wild and domestic environments and can represent a risk of infection for the human population when the vector is present.

Using FT-IR spectroscopy for the identification of the T. cruzi, T. rangeli, and the L. chagasi species

The cross-reaction in the diagnosis results is a serious problem, leading to an incorrect treatment and several injuries to patients. The Trypanosoma rangeli and Trypanosoma cruzi belong to the genus Trypanosoma, but the Trypanosoma rangeli is a non-pathogenic parasite to humans. While Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas' disease, which affects circa 2-3 million people and more than 6000 deaths annually in Brazil. The Leishmania chagasi causes infectious disease known as visceral leishmaniasis. This diseases have in common the crossed antigenic reaction promoted by serological tests and its differentiation is relevant for epidemiological studies and clinical practice. In this study the Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy was used to differentiate these microorganisms, which were cultivated and the spectra analyzed. Data analysis were performed by Gaussian curve fitting and multivariate statistical analysis. The cluster analysis have shown four specific regions to identify the microorganisms. The first three PCs of principal component analysis associated to linear discriminant were able to classify 95.6% of the parasites using cross-validation. The curve fitting method showed the quantitative differentiation among L. chagasi, T. cruzi, and T. rangeli species in the vibrational regions of polysaccharides, amide III, lipid esters, and fatty acid.

The role of sigmodontine rodents as sylvatic hosts of Trypanosoma cruzi in the Argentinean Chaco

The role of rodents in the sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi has seldom been investigated using parasitological and molecular methods. We assessed the occurrence of T. cruzi in wild small rodents from Pampa del Indio, in the Argentinean Chaco, and identified the taxonomic status of positive rodents by sequencing a fragment of cytochrome b gene (cytb) and performing BLAST searches and phylogenetic analyses. A total of 176 Sigmodontinae rodents was captured in six surveys using 5425 trap-nights in a wide range of sylvatic habitats between 2009 and 2011. Host infection was determined by xenodiagnosis and by polymerase chain reaction amplification of the hyper-variable region of kinetoplast DNA minicircles of T. cruzi (kDNA-PCR) from blood samples. None of the 176 rodents examined was xenodiagnosis-positive. The prevalence of infection determined by kDNA-PCR from blood samples was 16.2% (95% confidence interval, 10.1-21.9%). Half of the infections detected by kDNA-PCR were confirmed by nuclear satellite DNA-PCR or by kDNA-PCR of the rectal contents of xenodiagnostic bugs. The 24 positive specimens were assigned to eight species, providing the first records of T. cruzi in Akodon montensis, Akodon toba, Graomys chacoensis, and Oligoryzomys chacoensis. The occurrence of T. cruzi infection in Oligoryzomys nigripes, Calomys callosus, Necromys lasiurus and Oecomys sp. (most probably Oecomys mamorae) from the Gran Chaco is also reported for the first time. Although sigmodontine rodents were frequently infected, the intensity of bug rectal infection with T. cruzi was below the detection limit of xenodiagnosis (subpatent infectiousness to bugs), indicating they had a low reservoir host competence.