Fluctuations in Trypanosoma cruzi discrete typing unit composition in two naturally infected triatomines: Mepraia gajardoi and M. spinolai after laboratory feeding.

Mepraia species are hematophagous insects and the most important wild vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease in southeastern South America. Because the domestic Triatoma infestans is already controlled, the transmission of different T. cruzi discrete typing units (DTUs) by Mepraia species deserves attention.

Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Mepraia gajardoi and Mepraia spinolai: the effect of feeding nymphs from the field.

We evaluated Trypanosoma cruzi infection rates by means of minicircle DNA-based polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) in 70 starved Mepraia gajardoi from northern Chile and 65 M. spinolai from central Chile after feeding. Immediately after collection in the field, 20% of M.