Pathological effects of Blastocrithidia triatomae (Trypanosomatidae) on the reduviid bug Triatoma infestans after infection by membrane feeding and long-term starvation.

Developmental time and mortality in larvae of the reduviid bug Triatoma infestans were studied in uninfected groups and in those infected with Blastocrithidia triatomnae by in vitro feeding with 10(4) cyst stages/cm(3) blood. Bugs were subsequently subjected to two different starvation periods. In bugs fed at weekly intervals infection with B. triatomae was associated with developmental retardation, increasing in the final instars, and with increased mortality in the third and preadult instar. Compared to these groups, long-term starvation caused slightly lower mortality rates of uninfected groups and in infected bugs a remarkably higher mortality rate in the preadult instar. Total mortality rates of infected groups were nearly unaffected by starvation.