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Molecular characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi and infection rate of the vector Triatoma dimidiata in Costa Rica

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Abstract

According to the genetic characterization by the analysis of the miniexon gene, strains of Trypanosoma cruzi can be classified into six discrete typing units (DTUs), and the DTU 1 into four distinct genotypes associated with different life cycles. While Chagas disease is endemic in Costa Rica, T. cruzi isolates from this region have never been genetically characterized. An analysis of 16 isolates from Costa Rica, based on miniexon gene analysis, showed the existence of two different haplotypes in the country, closely related to the Colombian haplotype group TcIa and to sequences from several Mexican isolates, with eight variable positions in the alignment and a variability of 2.6 % between the compared sequences. No relationship between the habitat, vector or host, and the haplotypes was found, suggesting an active flow of T. cruzi in the country. The present study also reports a very high infection rate (47.3 %, 26 out of 55 specimens) in a Costa Rican population of Triatoma dimidiata, the main vector of Chagas disease in this country. The distribution and abundance of the parasite and its main vector suggest a high risk of Chagas disease emergence in Costa Rica.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Red de Investigación de Centros de Enfermedades Tropicales (RICET) (projects numbers C03/04, ISCIII2005-PI050574, and ISCIII-RETIC RD06/0021/0017 of the Programa de Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa RETICS/FEDER), FIS, Ministry of Health, Madrid, Spain; MICIT (Science and Technology Ministry, Costa Rica) and CONICIT (Science and Technology Research Council, Costa Rica). Technical support was provided by the Servicio Central de Secuenciación para la Investigación Experimental (SCSIE) of the University of Valencia, Spain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Parasitología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Valencia, Av. Vicente Andrés Estellés s/n, 46100, Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

    María Ángeles Zuriaga & María Dolores Bargues

  2. Laboratorio de Zoonosis, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional, Apartado Postal 86, Heredia, Costa Rica

    Melissa Blandón-Naranjo

  3. Departamento de Investigación Básica y Cátedra de Parasitología Médica, Universidad de Ciencias Médicas (UCIMED), San José, Costa Rica

    Idalia Valerio-Campos

  4. Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 10024, USA

    Ruth Salas

  5. Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica

    Rodrigo Zeledón

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  1. María Ángeles Zuriaga
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  2. Melissa Blandón-Naranjo
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  3. Idalia Valerio-Campos
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  4. Ruth Salas
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  5. Rodrigo Zeledón
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  6. María Dolores Bargues
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Correspondence to María Ángeles Zuriaga.

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Zuriaga, M.Á., Blandón-Naranjo, M., Valerio-Campos, I. et al. Molecular characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi and infection rate of the vector Triatoma dimidiata in Costa Rica. Parasitol Res 111, 1615–1620 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-3000-0

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