3 research outputs found
Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Leontopithecus rosalia at the Reserva Biológica de Poço das Antas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Wild golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) - endangered
primates that are native to the Brazilian Atlantic coastal forest -
were surveyed for the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi with the use of
Giemsa-stained blood smears, hemocultures and an indirect
immunofluorescence assay (IFAT). Positive IFAT with titers ranging from
1:20 to 1:1280 were observed in 52% of the 118 wild tamarins examined
and the parasite was isolated from 38 tamarins. No patent parasitemia
was observed among the tamarins from which T. cruzi was isolated. Serum
conversion and positive hemoculture was observed for three animals that
had yielded negative results some months earlier, which indicates that
T. cruzi is actively transmitted among tamarins. In contrast to
observations with other sylvatic isolates, those from the tamarins were
significantly more virulent and most of them produced mortality in
experimentally infected Swiss mice. Some variation in the kDNA
restriction profiles among the isolates was observed. Electrophoresis
with GPI, G6PDH, IDH, MDH and ME enzymes showed a Z2 profile