Trypanosoma cruzi Discret Typing Units (TcII and TcVI) in samples of patients from two municipalities of the Jequitinhonha Valley, MG, Brazil, using two molecular typing strategies.

Background: Trypanosoma cruzi is classified into six discrete taxonomic units (DTUs). For this classification, different biological markers and classification criteria have been used. The objective was to identify the genetic profile of T.

WEB 2086, a platelet-activating factor antagonist, inhibits prophenoloxidase-activating system and hemocyte microaggregation reactions induced by Trypanosoma rangeli infection in Rhodnius prolixus hemolymph.

The effects of the triazolodiazepine WEB 2086, a platelet-activating factor (PAF) antagonist, on hemocyte microaggregation and prophenoloxidase (proPO)-activating system in the hemolymph, hemocoelic infection and mortality in fifth-instar larvae of Rhodnius prolixus inoculated with Trypanosoma rangeli were investigated. Hemocoelic injection of short T. rangeli epimastigotes (1x10(4) parasites/insect) in R.

Trypanosoma cruzi: effects of infection on cathepsin D activity in the midgut of Rhodnius prolixus.

Cathepsin D activity was estimated in midgut homogenates from Rhodnius prolixus, uninfected and experimentally infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, at different times after blood ingestion. No enzyme activity was found in the anterior midgut and rectum. In the posterior midgut, enzyme activity was found both in lumen and wall.

Inhibition of hemocyte microaggregation reactions in Rhodnius prolixus larvae orally infected with Trypanosoma rangeli.

Hemocoelic inoculation of epimastigotes of Trypanosoma rangeli strain H14 into 5th-instar larvae of Rhodnius prolixus previously fed on blood containing the same parasites, showed reduced number of hemocyte microaggregates in the hemolymph, enhanced number of flagellates in the hemolymph as well as increased mortality of these insects. All these effects were counteracted by combined inoculation of R. prolixus with T.

Effects of eicosanoid biosynthesis inhibitors on the prophenoloxidase-activating system and microaggregation reactions in the hemolymph of Rhodnius prolixus infected with Trypanosoma rangeli.

Investigations on the effects of eicosanoid biosynthesis inhibitors on the hemocyte microaggregation and prophenoloxidase (proPO)-activating system in the hemolymph, parasitemia and mortality of Rhodnius prolixus infected with Trypanosoma rangeli were performed. Hemocoelic injection of live T. rangeli epimastigotes into fifth-instar larvae of R.

[Chagas' disease in Lassance, Minas Gerais State: Clinical-epidemiological re-evaluation ninety years after the discovery by Carlos Chagas].

The history and present situation of Chagas' disease in Lassance (the county where Carlos Chagas discovered American trypanosomiasis) were studied through a historical analysis and clinical and epidemiological research performed from 1999 to 2001. Lassance was an important focus of Chagas' disease from Carlos Chagas up until the 1980's, because of intensive infestation in dwellings by Panstrongylus megistus and Triatoma infestans, two important species which were efficiently controlled in the last twenty years. Human Chagas' disease was important in the past but today is only residual, affecting basically the more elderly age groups.