Tsetse-transmitted trypanosomosis (nagana) has been the cause of stock losses in the recent past and still presents a major problem to livestock owners in certain areas of KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa. Over 10 000 cattle mortalities were reported in the 1990 nagana outbreak. Although information on the distribution and abundance of the tsetse flies Glossina brevipalpis and Glossina austeni in...

Schofield 18 has pointed out that under article 30 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature maximus becomes maxima since “gaster” is feminine. However the standard work on triatomine taxonomy still refers to the species as D. maximus n . Whatever its species name, it refers to the single member of the genus Dipetalogaster characterised by a pleated abdômen and a restricted geographi...

In México, the role of mammals in the transmission cycle of Trypanosoma cruzi is poorly known. In the State of Yucatán, an endemic area of Chagas disease, both Didelphis virginiana and D. marsupialis occur sympatrically. However, until now, only the former species had been found infected with T. cruzi. To evaluate the role of D. virginiana in a peridomestic transmission, nine periods of capture...

Because mice are experimentally susceptible to infection with Ehrlichia species, C3H/HeJ mice were evaluated as a potential xenodiagnostic model for detection of infection with and isolation of E. chaffeensis. Intraperitoneal inoculation of mice with E. chaffeensis-infected DH82 cell cultures produced seroconversion, with peak serum antibody titers of 1:256, at high dosages (>1.9 x 10(4) infect...

A double-blind, randomized, clinical field trial was designed to test the efficacy and tolerance of a specific drug treatment in children in the indeterminate phase of infection by Trypanosoma cruzi. Children were treated with benznidazole at a dose of 5 mg/kg/day for 60 days or placebo and followed-up for 48 months. The treated children showed a significant decrease in geometric mean titers of...

INTRODUCTION The control of reservoirs for Leishmania infantum -induced zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis requires the identification of dogs posing a population risk. Here, we assessed the performance of several assays to identify Lutzomyia longipalpis infectious dogs. METHODS We evaluated 99 dogs that were positive for visceral leishmaniasis based on parasite identification. Serological analy...