%0 Journal Article
%T Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in an Indigenous Kari£¿a Community in Eastern Venezuela
%A Mariolga Berrizbeitia
%A Dairene Moreno
%A Brian J. Ward
%A Erika G¨®mez
%A Alicia Jorquera
%A Jessicca Rodr¨ªguez
%A Norys Garc¨ªa
%A Melfran Herrera
%A Mercedes Marcano
%A Momar Ndao
%J Epidemiology Research International
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/138259
%X We investigated the seroprevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in an indigenous Kari£¿a population in eastern Venezuela. A total of 175 serum samples were collected in the community of Pi£¿antal during February 2009. Interviews targeting socioeconomic and environmental factors associated with the T. cruzi transmission were also conducted. Samples were evaluated using trypomastigote excreted/secreted antigens (TESAs) in an ELISA format. TESA-ELISA positive samples were confirmed by indirect haemagglutination (HAI) (Wiener). A nonsystematic collection of vectors was also undertaken. T. cruzi seroprevalence was 7.43% according to both assays, and the mean age of infected patients was years (range 34 to 73 years). The vector infection rate was 20.00% (2/10). T. cruzi seropositivity was associated with a history of triatomine bites, the ability to recognize the vector and poor knowledge about Chagas disease, but no associations were found with gender, house type, knowledge of how the disease is transmitted, or the presence of vectors or animals inside dwellings. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the seroprevalence of T. cruzi in an indigenous population in eastern Venezuela. All of the epidemiological variables required for the establishment of active vectorial transmission of T. cruzi were present in this community. 1. Introduction The Southern Cone and Andean countries initiative proposed the reduction or interruption of the vectorial transmission of Chagas disease (CD) in several countries in Latin America such as Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, and regions of Brazil. This goal was achieved to the extent that some countries in South America have been declared free of the vectorial transmission of T. cruzi [1¨C3]. In Venezuela, the national Chagas Disease Control Program was started in 1966. This program reduced vectorial transmission through the use of insecticides, improvement of rural houses, education campaigns, and the screening of all public hospital blood banks for T. cruzi. In spite of these activities, several investigators raised the possibility that CD could reemerge in Venezuela [4, 5]. This fact has been demonstrated in several works: A£¿ez et al. [6] carried out a multicentric study where they evaluated 310 patients referred to a diagnostic center and reported 168 (54.19%) were seropositive for T. cruzi; of these, 75 (44.64%) were in the acute phase and 36.00% were children under 10 years old. Moreover, the serologic examination performed in 3,993 individuals from 75 rural areas in Venezuela showed 11.22% prevalence of T.
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/eri/2012/138259/