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Infections and Coinfections by Trypanosomatid Parasites in a Rural Community of Venezuela

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Abstract

Introduction

Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma rangeli and Leishmania spp. are parasites that coexist in several endemic areas. The identification of these parasites in hosts is important for the control programs.

Methods

216 samples from human blood (101), blood of other mammals (45) and triatomine intestinal content and hemolymph (70), from an endemic area of Venezuela, were analysed. The samples were evaluated by; serology (only humans) and PCR for T. cruzi in human, other mammals and triatomines, PCR for T. rangeli in mammals-including human and triatomines and PCR for Leishmania in mammals-including human.

Results

The 9.9% of the human samples were positive for T. cruzi by serology, 11.9% by PCR, 4% for T. rangeli PCR and none for Leishmania spp. PCR. 60% of the samples of other mammals showed DNA amplification for T. cruzi, 42.2% for T. rangeli and 4.4% for Leishmania spp. 61.4% of the triatomine samples showed DNA amplification for T. cruzi and 10% for T. rangeli.

Conclusions

High T. cruzi infection was detected in mammals and triatomines compared with T. rangeli. Low leishmanial infection was detected in other mammals. It is the first time that T. cruzi/T. rangeli coinfection, in humans, Canis familiaris (dog), and Bos Taurus (cow), were reported world-wide, and that this coinfection was described in Tamandua tetradactyla (anteater) from Venezuela. The coinfection T. cruzi/T. rangeli in mammals-including humans and triatomines, and coinfection T. cruzi/Leishmania spp. in non-human mammals, show the risk for trypanosomic zoonoses in this endemic area.

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Funding

This work has been supported by FONACIT, Projects: Proyecto en Red Misión Ciencia MCT Nº 2008000911–6, Proyecto FONACIT Nº 2011000470 and Universidad de Carabobo Projects: Proyecto LOCTI-001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Zoología y Ecología Tropical (IZET), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV), Caracas, Venezuela

    Leidi Herrera, Daisy Lozano-Arias & Roberto García-Alzate

  2. Centro de Medicina Tropical de Oriente, Universidad de Oriente (UDO), Núcleo Anzoátegui, Barcelona, Estado Anzoátegui, Venezuela

    Antonio Morocoima

  3. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas “Dr. Francisco J. Triana Alonso” (BIOMED), Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud Sede Aragua, Universidad de Carabobo, Maracay, Estado Aragua, Venezuela

    Mercedes Viettri, María Lares & Elizabeth Ferrer

  4. Departamento de Parasitología, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud Sede Aragua, Universidad de Carabobo, Maracay, Estado Aragua, Venezuela

    Elizabeth Ferrer

  5. Fundación Universitaría San Martín, Sede Puerto Colombia, Barranquilla, Colombia

    Daisy Lozano-Arias

  6. Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad, Universidad del Atlantico, Barranquilla, Atlántico, Colombia

    Roberto García-Alzate

Authors
  1. Leidi Herrera
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  2. Antonio Morocoima
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  3. Daisy Lozano-Arias
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  4. Roberto García-Alzate
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  5. Mercedes Viettri
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  6. María Lares
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  7. Elizabeth Ferrer
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Contributions

LH, AM, EF designed the study, analyzed the results and drafted the manuscript, LH, AM, DLA, RGA, MV, ML and EF carried out the epidemiological and laboratory work. All authors participated in writing, read and approved the final manuscript. LH and EF are guarantors of the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth Ferrer.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Ethical Approval

The project was approved by the Committee of Bioethics of the Institute of Biomedical Research of the University of Carabobo (BIOMED-UC), following the guidelines for human and animal care from the Commission of Bioethics of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the “Operational Guidelines for Ethics Committees that Review Biomedical Research (TDR/PRD/ETHICS/2000.1). An informed consent was signed by the individuals of the comunity and the owners of animals for obtaining blood samples according to ethical rules.

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Herrera, L., Morocoima, A., Lozano-Arias, D. et al. Infections and Coinfections by Trypanosomatid Parasites in a Rural Community of Venezuela. Acta Parasit. 67, 1015–1023 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-021-00505-1

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