title: Trypanosoma vivax in water buffalo of the Venezuelan Llanos: An unusual outbreak of wasting disease in an endemic area of typically asymptomatic infections.
abstract: Trypanosoma vivax has been associated with asymptomatic infections in African and South American buffalo. In this study, T. vivax was analyzed in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) from Venezuela in a molecular survey involving 293 blood samples collected from 2006 to 2015 across the Llanos region. Results demonstrated constant infections (average 23%) during the years analyzed. In general, animals were healthy carriers of T. vivax with low levels of parasitemia and were diagnosed exclusively by TviCATL-PCR. However, an outbreak of severe acute infections mostly in dairy animals was reported during a prolonged drought affecting 30.4% of a buffalo herd (115 animals examined). During the outbreak, animals exhibiting anemia and neurological disorders developed fatal infections, and 7% of the herd died within nine months before treatment against trypanosomosis. Microsatellite locus genotyping (MLG) of T. vivax samples before and during the outbreak revealed similar genotypes, but outbreak isolates exhibited the most divergent MLG. Venezuelan samples from symptomless and sick buffalo did not share the MLGs previously detected in asymptomatic Brazilian buffalo. Trypanosoma evansi was not detected in the herd examined during the outbreak. However, as expected Babesia sp. (62.6%) and Anaplasma sp. (55.6%) infections were highly prevalent in asymptomatic buffalo in the studied areas. This is the first South American outbreak of highly lethal acute T. vivax infections in water buffalo. Our results suggest that chronically infected and asymptomatic buffalo living in areas of enzootic equilibrium can develop symptomatic/lethal disease triggered by stressful scarcity of green forage and water during long droughts, inappropriate management of herds and likely concomitant anaplasmosis and babesiosis. Altogether, these factors weaken buffalo immune defenses, allowing T. vivax to proliferate and, consequently, allowing for progression to wasting disease.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil, Brazil; Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Herakles A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Oneyda J
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Ramírez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carla M F
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Rafael G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Angelica M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bethencourt
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Del M Pérez
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biodiversidade e Floresta, Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará, PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Antonio H H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Minervino
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil, Brazil.
authors.forename: Adriana C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil, Brazil. Electronic address: mmgteix@icb.usp.br.
authors.forename: Marta M G
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Teixeira
mesh_terms: D000712:Anaplasmosis / Q000150:complications; D000818:Animals; D058345:Asymptomatic Infections; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D002020:Buffaloes; D003612:Dairying; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D055864:Droughts; D019353:Endemic Diseases / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000662:veterinary*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016689:Trypanosoma vivax / Q000235:genetics; D014352:Trypanosomiasis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000662:veterinary*; D014687:Venezuela
keywords: African animal trypanosomosis; Bubalus bubalis; Genotyping; Healthy carrier; Outbreak; South America