Vaccination with Trypanosoma rangeli reduces the infectiousness of dogs experimentally infected with Trypanosoma cruzi.
The goal of this work was to test the efficacy of the vaccination with Trypanosoma rangeli in dogs. Mongrel dogs received three subcutaneous injections of fixed T. rangeli epimastigotes at 6-week intervals. Such immunisation induced antibodies against Trypanosoma cruzi. While both control and immunised dogs developed detectable parasitemia, this was lower and shorter in vaccinated animals. Interestingly, feeding of Triatoma infestans nymphs on vaccinated and chronically infected dogs led to a sharp reduction in the rate of bug infection. These results suggest that it might be possible to reduce the vectorial parasitemia through vaccination of dogs. As dogs are known to play a major role in the domestic cycle of T. cruzi, this might represent a strategy to reduce parasite transmission to humans.
Basso
Beatriz
B
Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba & Servicio Nacional de Chagas, Córdoba, Argentina. ebi@fcm.unc.edu.ar
Castro
Irma
I
Introini
Virginia
V
Gil
Patricia
P
Truyens
Carine
C
Moretti
Edgardo
E
D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004285:Dogs; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D014224:Triatoma / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology*; D014345:Trypanosoma / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000472:pathogenicity; D014611:Vaccination
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D016052:Protozoan Vaccines