This study reports on the standardization of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting specific antibodies anti-Trypanosoma cruzi in naturally infected dogs. Sera from 182 mongrel dogs of all ages residing in four rural villages in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, were collected in November 1994 and preserved in buffered neutral glycerin. All sera were tested by indirect hemaggl...

Trypanosoma cruzi is usually transmitted by contact with the excreta of infected Triatominae; among non-vectorial infections, direct transmission through coitus has been proposed. We investigated this possibility by instilling, through the external meatus of the vagina and the penis of previously anesthetized NMRI albino mice, blood of mice infected with strains isolated from Didelphis marsupia...

The investigation of the rational etiological treatment of Chagas disease, through controlled clinical trials, only began around half a century after the discovery of the disease. This resulted from a meeting held in Rio de Janeiro, in 1962, between a number of Brazilian researchers and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry (Anais 1962). Two facts were then known: (1) nitrofuran comp...

The persistence of Trypanosoma cruzi in tissue and blood of 52 patients in the digestive form of chronic Chagas disease was studied. These patients had chagasic megaesophagus and underwent corrective surgery. Parasitologic (xenodiagnosis, hemoculture, or both), histopathologic (hematoxylin and eosin, and peroxidase-anti-peroxidase staining), and molecular (polymerase chain reaction [PCR] follow...

BACKGROUND The relationships between heterogeneities in host infection and infectiousness (transmission to arthropod vectors) can provide important insights for disease management. Here, we quantify heterogeneities in Leishmania infantum parasite numbers in reservoir and non-reservoir host populations, and relate this to their infectiousness during natural infection. Tissue parasite number was ...

A community-based survey of household-associated mongrel dogs was undertaken in a rural area of Argentina to investigate pet population dynamics and the behavior of natural Trypanosoma cruzi infection in the reservoir by xenodiagnosis and serologic techniques. Age structure of dog population suggested that individuals participate in the domestic cycle of transmission for a mean period of 4 year...

Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is endemic in southern parts of the American continent. Herein, we have tested the protective efficacy of a DNA-prime/T. rangeli-boost (TcVac4) vaccine in a dog (Canis familiaris) model. Dogs were immunized with two-doses of DNA vaccine (pcDNA3.1 encoding TcG1, TcG2, and TcG4 antigens plus IL-12- and GM-CSF-encoding plasmids) followed by two doses of...

A m o n g 59 s tu d ie d c h ro n ic c h a g a s ic patients, in four of them it was only possible to is o la te T r y p a n o s o m a c r u z i u s in g haemoculture, but not xenodiagnosis1. This fa ilu re in i s o la t in g T. c r u z i u s in g xenodiagnosis performed with three different triatomine species, represents an opportunity to evaluate the interaction between T. cruzi and its infec...