Blood-Meal Sources and Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in Coastal and Insular Triatomine Bugs from the Atacama Desert of Chile.

ABSTRACT: Mepraia parapatrica is one of the lesser known and less abundant sylvatic triatomine species naturally infected by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease. M. parapatrica lives in sympatry with T. cruzi-infected rodents, but only birds, reptiles, and marine mammals have been reported as blood-meal sources of this vector species by serology. The distribution range of this kissing bug overlaps with fishers' settlements and tourist areas, and therefore the study of the blood-meal sources of this triatomine species is relevant. Here, we determined the blood-meal sources of M. parapatrica by NGS or standard sequencing from a coastal mainland area and an island in northern Chile, and T. cruzi infection by real-time PCR. The blood-meals of. M parapatrica included

SUBMITTER: Quiroga N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9028406 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature