Comparative Feeding and Defecation Behaviors of Trypanosoma cruzi-Infected and Uninfected Triatomines (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) from the Americas.

ABSTRACT: Triatomines are vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), the agent of Chagas disease. Stercorarian transmission occurs when infectious parasites are passed in insect feces to vertebrates through the biting wound or mucosa. Defecating on hosts during or shortly after blood feeding is, therefore, critical for transmission, and delayed triatomine defecation behavior has been posited to contribute to a low incidence of human Chagas disease in the U.S. We allowed nymphal T. cruzi-infected and uninfected Triatoma gerstaeckeri (Stål, 1859) and Triatoma sanguisuga (LeConte, 1855) to interact with restrained guinea pigs and measured insect feeding and defecation events; South American Rhodnius prolixus (Stål, 1859; Latin America) served as

SUBMITTER: Killets KC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11856564 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature