A comparative study of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in sylvatic mammals from a protected and a disturbed area in the Argentine Chaco

OROZCO MM; ENRIQUEZ GF; CARDINAL MV; PICCINALI RV; GÜRTLER RE

ACTA TROPICA

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016

0001-706X

Understanding the complex epidemiology of Trypanosoma cruzitransmission cycles requires comparative studies in widely differentenvironments. We assessed the occurrence of T. cruzi infection insylvatic mammals, their infectiousness to the vector, and parasitegenotypes in a protected area of the Argentine Chaco, and compared themwith information obtained similarly in a nearby disturbed area. A totalof 278 mammals from >23 species in the protected area were diagnosed forT. cruzi infection using xenodiagnosis, kDNA-PCR and nuclear satelliteDNA-PCR (SAT) from blood samples. The relative abundance and speciescomposition differed substantially between areas. Didelphis albiventrisopossums were less abundant in the protected area; had a significantlylower body mass index, and a stage structure biased toward earlierstages. The capture of armadillos was lower in the protected area. Thecomposite prevalence of T. cruzi infection across host species wassignificantly lower in the protected area (11.1%) than in the disturbedarea (22.1%), and heterogeneous across species groups. The prevalence ofinfection in Di. albiventris and Thylamys pusilla opossums wassignificantly lower in the protected area (nil for D. albiventris),whereas infection in sigmodontine rodents was three times higher in theprotected area (17.5 vs. 5.7%). Parasite isolates from the twoxenodiagnosis-positive mammals (1 Dasypus novemcinctus and 1 Conepatuschinga) were typed as TcIII; both specimens were highly infectious toTriatoma infestans. Fat-tailed opossums, bats and rodents were kDNA-PCRpositiveand xenodiagnosis-negative. Desmodus rotundus and Myotis batswere found infected with T. cruzi for the first time in the Gran Chaco.