Eco-epidemiology of vectorial Trypanosoma cruzi transmission in a region of northeast Brazil

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

“…Some residents of the Santo Inácio district even use rocky cavy meat for their food (Santos et al, 2022). In this same environment, the invasion of triatomines in households is common (Almeida et al, 2009; Santos et al, 2022), which makes it possible for the transmission of T. cruzi to domestic animals and humans, due to the high rate of infection by this protozoan in triatomines (Almeida et al, 2009, Ribeiro et al, 2019). However, the animal species likely to contribute to the maintenance of T. cruzi and the food sources accessed by triatomines are unknown in the region.…”

“…In order to determine the food source of triatomines, we used DNA previously extracted from the vectors analysed by Santos et al (2022), who detected in the study T. cruzi infection in these triatomines; the same DNA extraction protocol was adopted for the other triatomines included in the present study.…”

Natural Products from Annonaceae as Potential Antichagasic Agents

“…Particularly prevalent in Brazil, Chagas disease is responsible for the death of around 10,000 people every year in South America. [3][4][5][6][7] According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to seven million people worldwide are infected by T. cruzi, characterizing it as an important health and socioeconomic problem. [4,6,7] And this problem has been getting bigger and more attention in recent years due to its expansion to non-endemic areas, such as North America and Europe, due to the increase in the migratory flow of infected people.…”

“…Trypanosoma cruzi is a single-celled protozoan that causes Chagas disease. [1][2][3] Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease, is endemic in 21 Latin American countries. Particularly prevalent in Brazil, Chagas disease is responsible for the death of around 10,000 people every year in South America.…”

“…[8,9] Although recent vector control programs such as the National Program for the Control of Chagas Disease have helped to reduce infection rates in endemic areas, non-vector transmission routes such as contaminated food, blood transfusions and congenital transmission are becoming most common. [3,4,7,9,10] Vector transmission occurs when the insect feeds on the blood of an infected mammal and ingests the circulating trypomastigote form of T. cruzi. Once inside the midgut of the insect, T. cruzi differentiates into its replicative epimastigote (epim.)…”