Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania infantum chagasi Infection in Wild Mammals from Maranhão State, Brazil.
Trypanosoma and Leishmania are obligate parasites that cause important diseases in human and domestic animals. Wild mammals are the natural reservoirs of these parasites, which are transmitted by hematophagous arthropods. The present study aimed to detect the natural occurrence of trypanosomatids through serological diagnosis, PCR of whole blood and blood culture (hemoculture), and phylogenetic relationships using small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA), cytochrome b, and glycosomal glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH) genes. Samples from 131 wild animals, including rodents, marsupials, and bats, were sampled in six areas in the state of Maranhão, in a transition zone of semiarid climates northeast of the equatorial humid Amazon. Serological analysis for Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi was performed in opossums by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), and all animals were serologically negative. Nine positive hemocultures (6.77%) were isolated and cryopreserved and from mammals of the Didelphimorphia and Chiroptera orders and positioned in phylogenies on the basis of sequences from different genes with reference strains of Trypanosoma cruzi marinkellei and T. cruzi. From primary samples (blood and tissues) only one bat, Pteronotus parnellii, was positive to SSU rDNA and gGAPDH genes and grouped with the L. infantum chagasi branch. The studies conducted in Maranhão State provide knowledge of parasite diversity. It is important to determine the presence of trypanosomatids in wild mammals with synanthropic habits.
1 Departmento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo , São Paulo, SP, Brasil .
Andréa Pereira
AP
da Costa
1 Departmento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo , São Paulo, SP, Brasil .
Francisco Borges
FB
Costa
1 Departmento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo , São Paulo, SP, Brasil .
Herbert Sousa
HS
Soares
1 Departmento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo , São Paulo, SP, Brasil .
Diego Garcia
DG
Ramirez
2 Agência Estadual de Defesa Agropecuária-AGED/MA , São Luís, MA, Brasil .
Eric Takashi Kamakura de Carvalho
ET
Mesquita
1 Departmento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo , São Paulo, SP, Brasil .
Solange Maria
SM
Gennari
1 Departmento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo , São Paulo, SP, Brasil .|3 Medicina Veterinária e Bem estar animal-Universidade de Santo Amaro , SP, Brasil .
Arlei
A
Marcili
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000235:genetics; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000662:veterinary; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect / Q000662:veterinary; D005987:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases / Q000235:genetics; D018314:Leishmania infantum / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008322:Mammals / Q000469:parasitology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D045303:Cytochromes b; D005987:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases
Brazil; Chagas disease; Leishmania infantum chagasi; Synanthropic animals; Trypanosoma cruzi; Wild mammals