Correlation between populations of Rhodnius and presence of palm trees as risk factors for the emergence of Chagas disease in Amazon region, Brazil.

Among the states that comprise the legally defined Amazon region of Brazil, Pará has presented the highest occurrences of acute cases of Chagas disease over the last two decades. These cases have been attributed to consumption of fruits from native palm trees. In surveys in rural and wild areas of the municipality of Oriximiná, Pará, triatomine fauna, their main ecotopes and the infection rate due to Trypanosoma cruzi were identified using active and passive search methods: manual capture and Noireau traps, respectively.

Proteomic analysis of two Trypanosoma cruzi zymodeme 3 strains.

Two Trypanosoma cruzi Z3 strains, designated as 3663 and 4167, were previously isolated from insect vectors captured in the Brazilian Amazon region. These strains exhibited different infection patterns in Vero, C6/36, RAW 264.7 and HEp-2 cell lineages, in which 3663 trypomastigote form was much less infective than 4167 ones.