Shelter dogs as indicators for Trypanosoma cruzi infection in an urban area of Aracaju, Brazil.

Shelters are places that receive certain species of domestic animals, mostly dogs and cats, that are normally abandoned. These animals are easy to handle because they are crowded and have limited movement. Dogs, due to the close relationship with humans, are considered the main domestic reservoirs in the peridomiciliary cycle of American trypanosomiasis infection in humans. Therefore, in several countries studies are carried out to assess the occurrence of infection in these animals. This work evaluated the occurrence of Trypanosoma cruzi in dogs from shelters in the city of Aracaju, Sergipe. This was an observational and cross-sectional study to detect the occurrence of T. cruzi in blood samples from shelter dogs using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the TcZ1/TcZ2 primers. A total of 168 blood samples from dogs (104 females and 64 males) were collected and subjected to DNA and PCR extraction, and seventeen (10.1%) samples showed amplification of the product of the expected size. The TcZ1/TcZ2 primer pair used is considered specific for T. cruzi, and it is capable of amplifying all strains without amplifying other Trypanosoma species. The shelters evaluated had different physical infrastructure; animals positive for T. cruzi were found in all of them, as confirmed by sequencing. It is concluded that shelter dogs, as well as other domestic animals, can function as indicators of the occurrence of T. cruzi in Aracaju-SE, providing relevant epidemiological information for health surveillance and monitoring of Trypanosomatid infections.

Triatomine Fauna and Recent Epidemiological Dynamics of Chagas Disease in an Endemic Area of Northeast Brazil.

Updated information of the dispersion dynamics of Chagas disease (CD) and a systemic analysis of these data will aid the early identification of areas that are vulnerable to transmission and enable efficient intervention. This work synthesized spatiotemporal information regarding triatomine fauna and analyzed this information in combination with the results from serological tests to elucidate the epidemiological panorama of CD in the state of Sergipe, Brazil. This is a retrospective analytical study that utilized information from the database of the National Chagas Disease Control Program. Between 2010 and 2016, 838 triatomines of eight species, namely, Panstrongylus geniculatus, which was first recorded in the state of Sergipe, Panstrongylus lutzi, P. megistus, Triatoma brasiliensis, T. pseudomaculata, T. tibiamaculata, T. melanocephala, and Rhodnius neglectus, were collected. Optical microscopy revealed that 13.2% of triatomines examined were infected by Trypanosoma cruzi-like flagellates. The distribution of triatomines exhibits an expanding south-central to northern dispersion, with a preference for semiarid and agreste areas and occasional observations in humid coastal areas due to anthropogenic actions reflected in the environment. Of the human cases analyzed from 2012 to 2016, 8.3% (191/2316) presented positive serology for Trypanosoma cruzi, and this proportion showed a gradual increase in the southern center of the state and new notifications in coastal regions. There is a need for intensification and continuity of the measures adopted by the Chagas Disease Control Program in Sergipe, identifying new priority areas for intervention and preferential ecotopes of the vectors, considering the occurrence of positive triatomines intradomicilliary and a source of new triatomines in the peridomiciles.