Amazon + 10 in the context of neglected diseases: molecular identification of Trypanosoma cruzi diversity and food sources of triatomines collected in Amazon border regions (Brazil-Bolivia and Brazil-Peru)

• Grant number: 23/02269-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2023
• End date: January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Entomology and Malacology of Parasites and Vectors
• Agreement: CONFAP - National Council of State Research Support Foundations
• Principal Investigator: João Aristeu da Rosa
• Grantee: Yago Visinho dos Reis
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCFAR). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/10349-0 - Amazon + 10 in the context of neglected diseases: entomoepidemiological characterization of Chagas Disease in Amazonian border Regions (Brazil-Bolivia and Brazil-Peru), AP.R

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities can impact the transmission of parasitic diseases in the Amazon. Gold mining and timber extraction, for example, they can facilitate the vectorial transmission of malaria, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. It is estimated that eight million people are infected by Trypanosoma cruzi (the 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, due to ingestion of juices contaminated with feces of triatomine bugs with T. cruzi, have already been reported in more urbanized environments in the Amazon. Several states that make up the Brazilian Amazon border with other countries (among them, Acre and Amazonas with Peru; Acre, Rondônia and Mato Grosso with Bolivia). Given 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, as most species are potential vectors of T. cruzi. Given this and the little entomoepidemiological knowledge of the disease in the Amazonian border regions, the present project aims to characterize the food sources and carry out the identification of circulating T. cruzi genotypes in triatomines collected on the Brazil-Bolivia and Brazil-Peru borders. (AU)