The main sceneries of Chagas disease transmission. The vectors, blood and oral transmissions - A comprehensive review

• Main Author: José Rodrigues Coura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2015-05-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: Chagas disease; T. cruzi; vector, blood and oral transmission
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762015000300277&lng=en&tlng=en

This review deals with transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi by the most important domestic vectors, blood transfusion and oral intake. Among the vectors, Triatoma infestans, Panstrongylus megistus, Rhodnius prolixus, Triatoma dimidiata, Triatoma brasiliensis, Triatoma pseudomaculata, Triatoma sordida, Triatoma maculata, Panstrongylus geniculatus, Rhodnius ecuadoriensis and Rhodnius pallescens can be highlighted. Transmission of Chagas infection, which has been brought under control in some countries in South and Central America, remains a great challenge, particularly considering that many endemic countries do not have control over blood donors. Even more concerning is the case of non-endemic countries that receive thousands of migrants from endemic areas that carry Chagas disease, such as the United States of America, in North America, Spain, in Europe, Japan, in Asia, and Australia, in Oceania. In the Brazilian Amazon Region, since Shaw et al. (1969) described the first acute cases of the disease caused by oral transmission, hundreds of acute cases of the disease due to oral transmission have been described in that region, which is today considered to be endemic for oral transmission. Several other outbreaks of acute Chagas disease by oral transmission have been described in different states of Brazil and in other South American countries.