Publications by authors named "Carlos J C Moreira"
Article Synopsis
- Triatomines are insects that transmit Chagas disease, and since there’s no vaccine available, controlling their population is crucial to reducing cases.
- Researchers studied the sugar feeding preferences of various triatomine species by exposing them to sucrose-infused cotton and testing different sugars, finding that nymphs preferred sucrose and had higher mortality rates.
- The study revealed that sugar feeding is common among triatomines and proposed the use of sugar mixed with insecticides as an effective method for controlling these disease vectors, which could aid in managing Chagas disease.
Article Synopsis
- Chagas disease, caused by the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite, affects an estimated 70 million people, and traditional detection methods can be low in sensitivity or expensive in endemic areas.
- A study evaluated the accuracy of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) as a reagent-free, rapid, and non-invasive technique for detecting T. cruzi infection in the body parts and excreta of the Triatoma infestans insect, achieving 100% accuracy for various samples.
- This research represents the first use of NIRS for this purpose, and future studies aim to test its effectiveness on field-collected triatomines.
Background: Chagas disease kills 2.5 thousand people per year of 15 million persons infected in Latin America. The disease is caused by the protozoan, Trypanosome cruzi, and vectored by triatomine insects, including Panstrongylus megistus, an important vector in Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChagas disease is a trypanosomiasis whose causative agent is the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to humans by hematophagous insects known as triatomines and affects a large proportion of South America. The digestive tract of the insect vectors in which T. cruzi develops constitutes a dynamic environment that affects the development of the parasite.
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