Entomoepidemiology of Chagas disease in Amazon border regions (Brazil-Bolivia and Brazil-Peru): diversity, molecular tracking of Trypanosoma cruzi and analysis of food sources of vector insects

Abstract

Chagas disease is a neglected disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi that affects about eight million people worldwide. Vectorial transmission, through contact with the urine/feces of triatomines infected by the protozoan, is considered the main route of contamination. About 67 species of triatomines are present in Brazil, with at least 30 species reported in the Amazon region. Several states that make up the Brazilian Amazon (also known as the Legal Amazon) border other countries. Among them, Acre and Amazonas form the border between Brazil-Peru and Acre, Rondônia and Mato Grosso between Brazil-Bolivia. Given the diversity of triatomine species found in the legal Amazon [represented, in this proposal, by the states of Acre (11 species) and Rondônia (seven species)], as well as in Peru (18 species) and Bolivia (at least 15 species), an epidemiological alert is installed, as most species are considered potential vectors of T. cruzi. Given this and, above all, the little entomoepidemiological knowledge of the disease in the Amazonian border regions, the present project aims to analyze the diversity and food source(s) of the entomofauna of Triatominae, as well as to carry out a tracking molecular analysis of T. cruzi genotypes present in these insect vectors.