AJTMH ASTMH MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION: astmh@astmh.org
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 76(2), 2007, pp. 324-326
Copyright © 2007 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by CAMPOS, R.
Right arrow Articles by SOLARI, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by CAMPOS, R.
Right arrow Articles by SOLARI, A.
Right arrowPubmed/NCBI databases
Medline Plus Health Information
*Chagas Disease
Related Collections
Right arrow Chagas Disease
Right arrow Ecology/Natural History
Right arrow Medical Entomology

SHORT REPORT


TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI DETECTION IN BLOOD BY XENODIAGNOSIS AND POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION IN THE WILD RODENT OCTODON DEGUS

RICARDO CAMPOS, CAREZZA BOTTO-MAHAN, SYLVIA ORTIZ, MARIANA ACUÑA, PEDRO E. CATTAN, AND ALDO SOLARI*
Program of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ecological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, and Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

 

ABSTRACT

We detected Trypanosoma cruzi in blood samples of the wild rodent Octodon degus by xenodiagnosis and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the domestic and wild vectors of Chagas disease, Triatoma infestans and Mepraia spinolai, respectively. We captured 35 rodents and extracted DNA from blood samples and intestinal contents of vectors fed on O. degus. Our results indicate that the percentage of rodents naturally infected with T. cruzi depends on the biologic sample used for PCR and on the vector species for xenodiagnosis. The PCR with blood samples did not detect T. cruzi DNA, but the PCR with intestinal contents showed that both vectors were positive for T. cruzi. The PCR performed with M. spinolai intestinal contents detected four times more T. cruzi-positive O. degus than the PCR with Triatoma infestans intestinal contents (22.9% and 5.7%, respectively). We report the improvement of T. cruzi detection in sylvatic animals by a combination of PCR and xenodiagnosis using sylvatic vectors, especially in disease-endemic areas with low parasitemias in mammals.

Received May 30, 2006. Accepted for publication September 28, 2006.

Financial support: This study was supported by FONDECYT grants 1040762 to Aldo Solari, 1040711 to Pedro E. Cattan, and 3050033 to Carezza Botto-Mahan.

* Address correspondence to Aldo Solari, Program of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Casilla 70086, Santiago 7, Chile. E-mail: asolari{at}machi.med.uchile.cl

Authors’ addresses: Ricardo Campos, Sylvia Ortiz, and Aldo Solari, Program of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Casilla 70086, Santiago 7, Chile, Telephone: 56-2-978-6062, Fax: 56-2-735-5580, E-mail: asolari{at}machi.med.uchile.cl. Carezza Botto-Mahan, Department of Ecological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile, Telephone: 56-2-978-7232, Fax: 56-2-272-7363, E-mail: cbotto{at}uchile.cl. Mariana Acuña and Pedro E. Cattan, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Chile, Casilla 2 Correo 15, Santiago, Chile, Telephone: 56-2-978-5629, Fax: 56-2-978-5526, E-mail: pcattan{at}uchile.cl.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2007 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.