Trypanosoma cruzi subsp. detection

Curtis-Robles, Rachel, Lewis, Barbara C. & Hamer, Sarah A., 2016, High Trypanosoma cruzi infection prevalence associated with minimal cardiac pathology among wild carnivores in central Texas, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 5 (2), pp. 117-123 : 119

3.1. T. cruzi detection

A total of 226 wild animals were included in our study, including bobcats (n = 14), coyotes (n = 84), foxes (n = 58), and raccoons (n = 70) from 25 counties in central and south Texas ( Fig.1 ). Paired right ventricle and apex samples were available from 219 animals, right ventricle only from 3 animals, and apex only from 4 samples. Blood clots from within heart chambers were recovered from 56 individuals. After the initial screening with qPCR, 45 samples were assigned an equivocal status and therefore subjected to additional, independent PCR, in which 41 (91.1%) were determined to be positive. Based on the results of our diagnostic algorithm, we determined that 2 bobcats (14.3%), 12 coyotes (14.3%), 8 foxes (13.8%), and 49 raccoons (70.0%) were positive for T. cruzi in at least one sample (right ventricle, apex, and/or blood clot; Table 1). Fifteen of the twenty-five sampled counties had at least one animal test positive for T. cruzi ( Fig. 1 ).

Figures

Fig. 1. Spatial occurrence and distribution of T. cruzi infected, hunter-harvested wildlife, 2014. Number of infected over total number of that species tested are shown by county.