by Padilla AM, Yao PY, Landry TJ, Cooley GM, Mahaney SM, Ribeiro I, VandeBerg JL, Tarleton RL. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2021;15(3): e0009141. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009141
Summary: In this study, naturally occurring infections of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of human Chagas disease, were evaluated in an indoor/outdoor primate colony at a breeding facility in Texas, USA. Using serial quantitative PCR and hemoculture, infection was confirmed in 92% of the 64 seropositive animals, but neither of these two methods alone confirmed more than 80% of the cases. Parasites by hemoculture fell into two genetic groups (discrete typing units I and IV), and displayed large variation in growth characteristics, elicited cellular and humoral immune responses as well as virulence and drug susceptibility when tested in mice. The results demonstrate the complexity of these infection parameters in this colony in spite of the uniform and geographically constrained housing conditions of the macaques.
