Sexual Transmission of American Trypanosomes from Males and Females to Naive Mates.

American trypanosomiasis is transmitted to humans by triatomine bugs through the ingestion of contaminated food, by blood transfusions or accidently in hospitals and research laboratories. In addition, the Trypanosoma cruzi infection is transmitted congenitally from a chagasic mother to her offspring, but the male partner's contribution to in utero contamination is unknown. The findings of nests and clumps of amastigotes and of trypomastigotes in the theca cells of the ovary, in the goniablasts and in the lumen of seminiferous tubules suggest that T.

American trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease: Sexual transmission.

Objective: To contribute to the discussion on the research findings indicating the sexual transmission of American trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease in humans.

Methods: A review of the literature was performed to investigate the routes of transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi parasites and to evaluate the distribution of Chagas disease, which is now found across five continents.

Results: The epidemiological profile of American trypanosomiasis, which is still considered a neglected disease of the poor people of Latin America, has changed over time.

Sexual transmission of American trypanosomiasis in humans: a new potential pandemic route for Chagas parasites.

Background: The Trypanosoma cruzi infection endemic in Latin America has now spread to several countries across four continents; this endemic involves triatomine vector-free protists. We hypothesised that the sexual transmission of T. cruzi contributes to the ongoing spread of Chagas disease.

Inheritance of DNA transferred from American trypanosomes to human hosts.

Interspecies DNA transfer is a major biological process leading to the accumulation of mutations inherited by sexual reproduction among eukaryotes. Lateral DNA transfer events and their inheritance has been challenging to document. In this study we modified a thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR by using additional targeted primers, along with Southern blots, fluorescence techniques, and bioinformatics, to identify lateral DNA transfer events from parasite to host.