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Domestic dogs and cats as sources of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in rural northwestern Argentina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2006

R. E. GÜRTLER ,
M. C. CECERE ,
M. A. LAURICELLA ,
M. V. CARDINAL ,
U. KITRON  and
J. E. COHEN
R. E. GÜRTLER
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Eco-Epidemiología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
M. C. CECERE
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Eco-Epidemiología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
M. A. LAURICELLA
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Parasitología “Dr. Mario Fatala Chaben”, Paseo Colón 568, 1032 Buenos Aires, Argentina
M. V. CARDINAL
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Eco-Epidemiología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
U. KITRON
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2001 South Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, IL 61802, USA
J. E. COHEN
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Populations, Rockefeller and Columbia Universities, 1230 York Ave. Box 20, New York NY 10021-6399, USA
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Abstract

The reservoir capacity of domestic cats and dogs for Trypanosoma cruzi infection and the host-feeding patterns of domestic Triatoma infestans were assessed longitudinally in 2 infested rural villages in north-western Argentina. A total of 86 dogs and 38 cats was repeatedly examined for T. cruzi infection by serology and/or xenodiagnosis. The composite prevalence of infection in dogs (60%), but not in cats, increased significantly with age and with the domiciliary density of infected T. infestans. Dogs and cats had similarly high forces of infection, prevalence of infectious hosts (41–42%), and infectiousness to bugs at a wide range of infected bug densities. The infectiousness to bugs of seropositive dogs declined significantly with increasing dog age and was highly aggregated. Individual dog infectiousness to bugs was significantly autocorrelated over time. Domestic T. infestans fed on dogs showed higher infection prevalence (49%) than those fed on cats (39%), humans (38%) or chickens (29%) among 1085 bugs examined. The basic reproduction number of T. cruzi in dogs was at least 8·2. Both cats and dogs are epidemiologically important sources of infection for bugs and householders, dogs nearly 3 times more than cats.

Keywords

surveillancehost-feedingincidencetriatomine bugsChagas diseaseTrypanosoma cruziTriatoma infestansdogscatsinfectiousness
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 134 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 69 - 82
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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