DIRECT SEARCH AND MOLECULAR EVALUATION FOR Trypanosoma evansi IN DAIRY COWS AND SPATIAL ANALYSIS

• Grant number: 25/12835-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: September 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Simone Baldini Lucheis
• Grantee: Leonardo de Souza e Silva Filho
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been an alarming increase in the frequency and scale of emerging infectious diseases, as well as the resurgence of previously controlled diseases, in view of changes in the ecosystem due to ecological imbalance, suggesting a change in the epidemiological behavior of some diseases and the need for more robust epidemiological surveillance. Atypical human trypanosomiasis, caused by the species Trypanosoma evansi (T. evansi), can affect livestock, such as cattle, and has been gaining prominence due to few reports in the scientific literature and the scarcity of research, which makes it a serious threat to public health. In view of this, it is essential to emphasize the importance of early diagnosis and epidemiological surveillance as a way of monitoring these diseases. 200 dairy cows from 17 rural settlements in the northwest region of the State of São Paulo will be evaluated for T. evansi in blood samples. Direct parasitological analysis will be performed to detect trypomastigote forms and molecular evaluation using conventional polymerase chain reaction (cPCR) techniques, as well as genetic sequencing, if there are positive samples. In addition, spatial analysis will be performed to map animals positive for T. evansi. This study is expected to provide a deeper understanding of the epidemiology of trypanosomiasis by T. evansi in cattle in the studied region, generating information that can assist in the epidemiological surveillance of these trypanosomoses and in the development of strategies for the prevention and control of these diseases, both in animals and in humans.