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SEROPREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS FOR TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI INFECTION IN THE AMAZON REGION OF ECUADOR

Trypanosoma cruzi infection in the Ecuadorian Amazon region has recently been reported. A seroepidemiologic survey conducted in four provinces in this region indicates a seroprevalence rate of 2.4% among the 6,866 samples collected in 162 communities. Among children 10 years of age, 1.2% were seropositive. Risk factors for T. cruzi seropositivity were having been born and remaining in the Ecuadorian Amazon provinces, age, living in a house with a thatch roof and open or mixed wall construction, recognizing the vector insects, and reporting being bitten by a triatomine bug. These data suggest active transmission of Chagas’ disease in the Ecuadorian Amazon region is associated with poor housing conditions, and highlight the need for further studies aimed at understanding the biology of the insect vectors, reservoir species, and the clinical impact of T. cruzi infection as the basis for future educational and control programs in this region.

Received April 2, 2002. Accepted for publication June 16, 2003.

Acknowledgments: We thank the Servicio Nacional para el Control de Malaria and the Ecuadorian Army for logistical support, and Dr. Richard Seed and Carla Black (Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC) for assistance in the preparation of the manuscript.

Financial support: This research project was supported by TDR/World Health organization grants 970285 and A000209 and by Ohio University.

Authors’ addresses: Mario J. Grijalva, Jaime A. Costales, and Edwin C. Rowland, Tropical Disease Institute, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ohio University, 333 Irvine Hall, Athens, OH 45701, Telephone: 740-593-2192, Fax: 740-597-2778, E-mail: Grijalva{at}ohiou.edu. Luis Escalante, H. Marcelo Aguilar, and Jose Racines, Instituto Nacional de Higiene Zona Norte, Iquique 2045 y Yaguachi, Quito, Ecuador. Rodrigo A. Paredes, Alberto Padilla, Escuela de Biologia, Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Ave. 12 de Octubre y Roca, Quito, Ecuador.

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