The risk of oral transmission in an area of a Chagas disease outbreak in the Brazilian northeast evaluated through entomological, socioeconomic and schooling indicators.

Chagas disease is a neglected tropical disease strongly associated with low socioeconomic status, affecting nearly 8 million people - mainly Latin Americans. The current infection risk is based on acute case reports, most of which are typically associated with oral transmissions. In the semi-arid region of Northeastern Brazil, serious outbreaks of this transmission type have surged in the last years.

Dynamics of food sources, ecotypic distribution and Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Triatoma brasiliensis from the northeast of Brazil.

Innovative approaches used to combat Chagas disease transmission tend to combine a set of comprehensive efforts to understand the ecology of local vectors. In this work we identified molecularly the blood meal of 181 Triatoma brasiliensis, distributed in 18 populations (8 sylvatic and 10 peridomestic), which were collected across a range of 240 km (East-West) and 95 km (North-South) in the semi-arid region of northeastern, Brazil. We used the vertebrate mitochondrial gene (cytochrome B) sequencing applied to DNA isolated from bug midgut to identify the insect blood meal sources via the BLAST procedure.