title: Comparison of the infectivity of Trypanosoma cruzi insect-derived metacyclic trypomastigotes after mucosal and cutaneous contaminative challenges.
abstract: Trypanosoma cruzi infects humans when infected triatomine vector excreta contaminate breaks in skin or mucosal surfaces. T. cruzi insect-derived metacyclic trypomastigotes (IMT) invade through gastric mucosa after oral challenges without any visible inflammatory changes, while cutaneous and conjunctival infections result in obvious local physical signs. In this study we compared the infectivity of T. cruzi IMT in mice after cutaneous and oral contaminative challenges simulating natural infections. The 50% infective dose (ID50) for oral challenge was 100 fold lower than the ID50 for cutaneous challenge, indicating that oral mucosal transmission is more efficient than cutaneous transmission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher Steven
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Eickhoff
authors.forename: Brian Anthony
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: Nicole Lea
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: Daniel Fredric
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Hoft
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000472:pathogenicity*
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins