Amazon + 10 in the context of neglected diseases: entomoepidemiological characterization of Chagas Disease in Amazonian border Regions (Brazil-Bolivia and Brazil-Peru)

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities can impact the transmission of parasitic diseases in the Amazon. Gold mining and logging, for example, can facilitate vector transmission of Malaria, Leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease. It is estimated that eight million people are infected with Trypanosoma cruzi (etiological agent of Chagas Disease), with vector transmission (contact with the urine/feces of triatomines infected by the protozoan) being the main form of contamination. In Brazil, there are about 70 species of triatomines, with at least 30 species reported in the Amazon region. Outbreaks of Chagas Disease, caused by ingestion of juices contaminated with feces of triatomines with T. cruzi, have already been reported in more urbanized environments in the Amazon. Several states that make up the Brazilian Amazon border other countries (among them, Acre and Amazonas with Peru; Acre, Rondônia and Mato Grosso with Bolivia). In view of the diversity of triatomine species found in the legal Amazon (represented, in this proposal, by the states of Acre and Rondônia), as well as in Peru and Bolivia, an epidemiological alert is installed, since most species are potential vectors of T.cruzi cross. Given this and, above all, the little entomoepidemiological knowledge of the disease in the Amazonian border Regions, the present project aims to analyze the richness, distribution, prevalence of infection and risk factors associated with triatomines, as well as to characterize the food sources, the percentage of contamination by trypanosomatids and carry out the identification of T. cruzi genotypes. With these results, it is intended to present a georeferencing of risk areas for transmission of Chagas Disease to local authorities, allowing the presence of triatomines and potential reservoirs to be monitored in a preventive way (by the health professionals responsible for vector control and, above all, by the local population that will be able to assist - as health agents - in the notification of Organs competent bodies) in these Amazonian locations. (AU)