title: First finding of Trypanosoma cruzi II in vampire bats from a district free of domestic vector-borne transmission in Northeastern Argentina.
abstract: Establishing the putative links between sylvatic and domestic transmission cycles of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, is of public health relevance. We conducted three surveys to assess T. cruzi infection in wild mammals from a rural and a preserved area in Misiones Province, Northeastern Argentina, which had recently been declared free of vector- and blood-borne transmission of human T. cruzi infection. A total of 200 wild mammals were examined by xenodiagnosis (XD) and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the hyper-variable region of kinetoplast DNA minicircles of T. cruzi (kDNA-PCR). The overall prevalence of T. cruzi infection was 8%. Nine (16%) of 57 Didelphis albiventris opossums and two (7%) of 29 Desmodus rotundus vampire bats were positive by both XD and kDNA-PCR. Additionally, one D. rotundus positive for T. cruzi by kDNA-PCR tested positive by satellite-DNA-PCR (SAT-DNA-PCR). The T. cruzi-infected bats were captured indoors and in the yard of a vacant dwelling. All D. albiventris were infected with TcI and both XD-positive D. rotundus by TcII. Fifty-five opossum cubs within the marsupium were negative by XD. The mean infectiousness to the vector was 62% in D. albiventris and 50% in D. rotundus. Mice experimentally infected with a parasite isolate from a vampire bat displayed lesions typically caused by T. cruzi. Our study documents the presence of the genotype TcII in a sylvatic host for the first time in Argentina, and the occurrence of two transmission cycles of T. cruzi in a district free of domestic vector-borne transmission.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Eco-Epidemiología,Departamento de Ecología,Genética y Evolución,Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales,Universidad de Buenos Aires,UBA-IEGEBA CONICET,Buenos Aires,Argentina.
authors.forename: Hernán D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Argibay
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Eco-Epidemiología,Departamento de Ecología,Genética y Evolución,Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales,Universidad de Buenos Aires,UBA-IEGEBA CONICET,Buenos Aires,Argentina.
authors.forename: M Marcela
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Orozco
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Eco-Epidemiología,Departamento de Ecología,Genética y Evolución,Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales,Universidad de Buenos Aires,UBA-IEGEBA CONICET,Buenos Aires,Argentina.
authors.forename: M Victoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Cardinal
authors.affiliation: Parque Ecológico El Puma,Ministerio de Ecología y Recursos Naturales Renovables,Provincia de Misiones,Argentina.
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rinas
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Parasitología Dr. Mario Fatala Chaben,ANLIS Malbrán,Buenos Aires,Argentina.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arnaiz
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Zoonosis Luis Pasteur,Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires,Argentina.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mena Segura
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Eco-Epidemiología,Departamento de Ecología,Genética y Evolución,Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales,Universidad de Buenos Aires,UBA-IEGEBA CONICET,Buenos Aires,Argentina.
authors.forename: Ricardo E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gürtler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000469:parasitology; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000469:parasitology*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D004199:Disease Vectors; D008322:Mammals / Q000469:parasitology*; D009893:Opossums / Q000469:parasitology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D020525:Xenodiagnosis
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan
keywords: Desmodus rotundus; Didelphis albiventris; Trypanosoma cruzi; discrete typing unit