| Journal: | Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz |
| Database: | PERIÓDICA |
| System number: | 000405550 |
| ISSN: | 0074-0276 |
| Authors: | Araujo, Perla F1 Almeida, Adriana B1 Pimentel, Carlos F1 Silva, Adriano R1 Sousa, Alessandro1 Valente, Sebastiao A2 Valente, Vera C2 Britto, Manuela M1 Rosa, Ana C1 Alves, Rozeneide M1 Hagstrom, Luciana1 Teixeira, Antonio R.L1 |
| Institutions: | 1Universidade de Brasilia, Faculdade de Medicina, Brasilia, Distrito Federal. Brasil 2Instituto Evandro Chagas, Belem, Para. Brasil |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Season: | Jun |
| Volumen: | 112 |
| Number: | 6 |
| Pages: | 437-446 |
| Country: | Brasil |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Document type: | Artículo |
| Approach: | Experimental, aplicado |
| English abstract | 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. OBJECTIVES A short-term longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate this hypothesis. METHODS The study population comprised 109 subjects from four families, among whom 21 had been diagnosed with acute Chagas disease by direct parasitological analysis. Blood mononuclear cells and serum samples were obtained from each study subject once per year for three consecutive years. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence serological examinations were used to detect specific T. cruzi antibodies. Polymerase chain reaction of T. cruzi DNA revealed 188-nucleotide bands, which hybridised to a specific radiolabelled probe and were confirmed by cloning and sequencing. RESULTS Three independent assessments at different time points revealed T. cruzi nuclear DNA footprints in 76% (83/109) of the study population with active infection. In contrast, the ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence assays detected the T. cruzi antibody in 28.4% (31/109) of the study samples. Moreover, the semen from 82.6% (19/23) of subjects people revealed harboured the 188- bp base pair T. cruzi footprint. Interestingly, the ejaculates of nuclear DNA-positive Chagas patient transmitted the T. cruzi upon peritoneal injection or infusion in the vagina of mice, and amastigotes were detected in the skeletal muscle, myocardium, vas deferens, and uterine tube. MAIN CONCLUSIONS T. cruzi infections can be transmitted from females or males to naïve mates through intercourse, and progeny showed discrepancies between the ratios of nuclear DNA footprints and specific antibody that can be explained by the tolerance attained during early embryo growth |
| Disciplines: | Medicina |
| Keyword: | Salud pública, Parasitología, Enfermedad de Chagas, Epidemiología, Vías de transmisión, Transmisión sexual, Trypanosoma cruzi |
| Keyword: | Medicine, Public health, Parasitology, Chagas disease, Epidemiology, Transmission ways, Sexual transmission, Trypanosoma cruzi |
| Full text: | Texto completo (Ver HTML) |
