Trypanosomatid Richness in Wild and Synanthropic Small Mammals from a Biological Station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Alice Pereira Berbigier,Juliana Helena Da Silva Barros,Ana Maria Jansen,Cristiane Varella Lisboa,Samanta Cristina Das Chagas Xavier,André Luiz Rodrigues Roque,Rosana Gentile,Edilene Sousa Pontes

doi:10.3390/pathogens10111442

Alice Pereira Berbigier, Juliana Helena Da Silva Barros + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10111442

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Journal: Pathogens	Publication Date: Nov 5, 2021
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz

Abstract

Trypanosomatids are diverse and can infect several host species, including small mammals (rodents and marsupials). Between 2012 and 2014, 91 small mammals were surveyed for trypanosomatid infection in the Estação Biológica FIOCRUZ Mata Atlântica (EFMA), an Atlantic Forest area in Rio de Janeiro that presents different levels of conserved and degraded areas. Blood, skin, liver, and spleen samples were submitted to parasitological, serological, and molecular assays to detect the infection and determine the taxonomic status of their parasites. Sixty-eight individuals (74.7%; n = 91) were infected by trypanosomatids, including fourteen mixed infected by different trypanosomatid parasites. These hosts were infected by: T. cruzi DTU TcI (n = 12), T. cruzi DTU TcIV (n = 2), T. janseni (n = 15), T. dionisii (n = 1), and T. rangeli A (n = 1) detected in blood or tissue cultures, in addition to T. cruzi DTU TcI (n = 9) and Leishmania sp. (n = 1) only by the molecular diagnosis. Serological diagnosis was positive in 38 (71.6%) individuals for T. cruzi, the same amount for Leishmania spp., and 23 (43.3%) individuals were mixed infected. These data indicate a remarkable richness of trypanosomatid species/genotypes infecting small mammals, even in a disturbed area with low mammal species diversity—as is the case of the EFMA—reinforcing the generalist aspect of these parasites.

Highlights

The Trypanosomatidae family (Protozoa: Trypanosomatida) comprises parasites from plants, invertebrates, and vertebrate animals that, according to their life cycles, can be classified as monoxenic or heteroxenic [1,2]
We evaluated trypanosomatid infections in rodents and marsupials collected in Pathogens 2021, 10, 1442 areas from Estação Biológica FIOCRUZ Mata Atlântica (EFMA) with different habitat characteristics according to the level of anthropic influence
D. aurita was the most abundant small mammal in the samplings from EFMA, probably because capture expeditions occurred during their reproductive period, described to begin in July/August and to finish in March [26]

Summary

Introduction

The Trypanosomatidae family (Protozoa: Trypanosomatida) comprises parasites from plants, invertebrates, and vertebrate animals that, according to their life cycles, can be classified as monoxenic or heteroxenic [1,2]. The more than twenty species of Leishmania described as responsible for different clinical forms of human leishmaniasis [6]; Trypanosoma evansi [7], which is the causative agent of an equine disease called “mal-de-cadeiras” or “surra”; and Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, a heterogeneous parasite that can be classified into seven discrete typing units (DTUs): TcI-TcVI and Tcbat [8,9]. More than twenty Leishmania species described as responsible for different clinical forms of human leishmaniasis [6]; Trypanosoma evansi [7], which is the causative agent of an equine disease called “mal-de-cadeiras” or “surra”; Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, a heterogeneous parasite that can be classified into seven discrete typing units (DTUs): TcI-TcVI and Tcbat [8,9]. Rodents are the most diverse of all mammalian groups worldwide, and in South America, the subfamily Sigmodontinae encompasses 56% of rodent species [11]

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