The role played by sympatric collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu), white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), and feral pig (Sus scrofa) as maintenance hosts for Trypanosoma evansi and Trypanosoma cruzi in a sylvatic area of Brazil

Abstract

The Brazilian Pantanal has been considered one of the richest and most diverse wetland ecosystems in the world. It is occupied by cattle ranching, and a variety of wildlife species share the same habitats with domestic livestock. We investigated infections of Trypanosoma evansi and Trypanosoma cruzi in the sympatric suiformes-collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu), white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), and feral pig (Sus scrofa) by parasitological, serological, and molecular tests. Additionally, we evaluated the health status of both positive and negative suiformes by hematological and biochemical parameters. The results show that peccaries and feral pigs play an important role on the maintenance of both T. evansi and T. cruzi in the Brazilian Pantanal. Health impairment was observed only in the white-lipped peccary infected with T. evansi. Despite presenting low T. evansi parasitemia, all infected white-lipped peccaries displayed low hematocrit values and marked leucopenia. The hematological values showed that the T. evansi infection is more severe in young white-lipped peccaries. The presented data show that feral pigs and peccaries are immersed in the transmission net of both trypanosome species, T. cruzi and T. evansi, in the Pantanal region.