[Correlation among the positivity of the artificial xenodiagnosis and the amount of blood and triatomines used in the exam, in chronic chagasic patients].

The aim of this study was to verify whether the amount of blood and number of triotomines used could improve the artificial xenodiagnosis performed in 200 chronic phase infected individuals. Ten or 40ml of peripheral blood was collected in heparinized (20.4 IU) vacuum tubes, and fed to 60 and 360 triatomines, respectively.