Quatro casos de doença de Chagas são registrados numa família em Belém, Pará, Brasil. Acredita-se que a infecção foi adquirida em Belém. Como não foram encontrados triatomíneos na casa dos doentes, nem nas residências vizinhas, sugere-se que outros meios de transmissão devem ser considerados, por exemplo a transmissão "per os".
A total of 1,197 wild animals from Pará State north Brazil, were examined for haematozoa. Trypanosoma cruzi-like parasites were found in 13 different species, and were particularly common in a variety of marsupials (Didelphidae), porcupines (Coendou spp.), armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) and coatimundis(Nasua nasua). Three human infections are reported, making a total of seven autochthonous cases of Chagas's disease from Pará since the first were described in 1969. A serological survey of 5,319 inhabitants from the Belém suburbs revealed 14 positive reactions with immunofluorescent antibody titres greater than 1:64, and 15 equivocal reactions at 1:16. No evidence was found of silvatic species of triatomine bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) colonizing houses, but occasional infected specimens of Panstrongylus geniculatus and Rhodnius pictipes were found in suburban houses, near the forest. Human infection is considered to be silvatic in origin. Chagas's disease could become endemic in the Amazon Basin if silvatic triatomine bugs were able to adapt to a domestic habitat: the real danger, however, is in the possible importation of already domiciliated vector-species along the newly opened highways, from other endemic regions of Brazil. Other Trypanosoma species were recorded in a variety of wild animals. Haemogregarines were found in some marsupials and rodents, and piroplasms in marsupials and a single armadillo.
Sporadic cases of visceral leishmaniasis in Amazonian Brazil appear limited to Pará State, in the lower Amazon valley and principally near the Atlantic coast. The fox Cerdocyon thous (L.) has been incriminated as a natural host of the causative parasite, Leishmania donovani chagasi, but past doubts have existed over the identification of the most likely vector as Lutzomyia (Lutzomyia) longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva, 1912). Investigations on two of five recent cases of visceral leishmaniasis of man in the Districts of Cachoeira do Arari and Salvaterra, on the eastern part of the Island of Marajó, Pará showed undoubted Lu. longipalpis to be abundant in one house and in numerous chicken-houses. This is the first record of Lu. longipalpis on Marajó Island, and the finding supports previous implication of this sandfly in the epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis in other parts of Pará. Morphological differences have been noted between this insect from Marajó and other specimens from more highly endemic regions in the States of Ceará and Minas Gerais, Brazil.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.