Dogs and their role in the eco-epidemiology of Chagas disease.

GURTLER RE; CARDINAL MV

Dog Parasites Endangering Human Health

Springer

Año: 2021; p. 73 - 106

Chagas disease, caused by infection with Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important disease of humans and dogs in the Americas. Here we review aspects of canine Chagas disease with emphasis on its diagnosis, eco-epidemiology, transmission and control, and the role of dogs as a risk factor for human infection and sentinel animal. Dogs may become infected through multiple routes mediated by triatomine bugs, including consumption of mammal preys; maintain T. cruzi in the absence of any other host species (a primary reservoir host); provide a bridge between sylvatic, peridomestic and domestic transmission cycles, and increase bug population size. Dog blood meals were reported in ≥31 triatomine species collected in domestic and/or peridomestic habitats. A systematic search including 309 published reports showed that the prevalence of T. cruzi infection in dogs typically varied from 10% to 30% across the Americas, and sometimes exceeded 50%. Serological cross-reactivity with other potentially co-endemic trypanosomatids supports the use of more specific methods for confirmation. Xenodiagnosis-based assessments showed that the mean infectiousness of T. cruzi-seropositive dogs to seropositive humans differed by 4-10×. Mathematical modeling supports that dogs amplify domestic parasite transmission. House residual spraying with pyrethroid insecticides provided high levels of protection to dogs in endemic areas.