RESUMO

Trypanosoma lewisi is a cosmopolitan species originally found in Rattus spp., being nonpathogenic, host-restricted, and transmitted by rat fleas. This species has been recorded as an opportunist blood parasite of human beings mainly in Asia, with a case in Africa. In Brazil, this species was recently recorded in captive monkeys. As T. lewisi can share vertebrate hosts both with Trypanosoma rangeli and Trypanosoma cruzi, some markers for the differential diagnosis of these species were examined and discussed herein. The identification of T. lewisi was based on morphological features of bloodstream stages at the initial phase of infection in mammals, isoenzyme electrophoresis at the MDH locus, and PCR products of kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) minicircles using the primers TC121/TC122.

Assuntos

Infecções Oportunistas/diagnóstico , Trypanosoma cruzi/isolamento & purificação , Trypanosoma lewisi/isolamento & purificação , Trypanosoma rangeli/isolamento & purificação , Tripanossomíase/diagnóstico , África , Animais , Ásia , Brasil , Doença de Chagas/diagnóstico , Doença de Chagas/parasitologia , DNA de Cinetoplasto/análise , DNA de Cinetoplasto/genética , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Humanos , Isoenzimas/análise , Mamíferos , Infecções Oportunistas/parasitologia , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase/métodos , Ratos , Trypanosoma cruzi/genética , Trypanosoma cruzi/ultraestrutura , Trypanosoma lewisi/genética , Trypanosoma lewisi/ultraestrutura , Trypanosoma rangeli/genética , Trypanosoma rangeli/ultraestrutura , Tripanossomíase/parasitologia