Pereyra N, Lobbia P A, Mougabure-Cueto G
Laboratorio de Investigación en Triatominos (LIT), Centro de Referencia de Vectores (CeReVe), Coordinación de Vectores, Ministerio de Salud y Desarrollo Social de la Nación. Hospital Colonia-Pabellón Rawson calle s/n, Santa María de Punilla, Córdoba, Argentina.
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina.
Bull Entomol Res. 2020 Feb;110(1):169-176. doi: 10.1017/S0007485319000464. Epub 2019 Jul 24.
Transmission of Trypanosma cruzi (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) occurs when feces/urine of infected triatomines come into contact with mucous membranes or damaged skin, and this occurs mainly when insects defecate while feeding on the host. Thus, the vector competence of the triatomines is associated with their feeding and excretion/defecation behavior. This work studied for the first time the effect of T. cruzi infection on feeding and excretion/defecation patterns of Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Uninfected and infected fifth-instar nymphs were fed ad libitum and their feeding behavior and defecations were registered during and after feeding. The feeding pattern did not show differences between the experimental groups. However, the infected nymphs began to defecate earlier, defecated in greater quantity and there was a greater proportion of defecating individuals compared to uninfected nymphs. These results show that T. cruzi affected the excretion/defecation pattern of T. infestans in a way that would increase the probability of contact between infective feces and the mammalian host.
克氏锥虫（动质体目：锥虫科）的传播发生在受感染的锥蝽的粪便/尿液接触到黏膜或受损皮肤时，而这主要发生在昆虫在宿主身上取食时排便的情况下。因此，锥蝽的媒介能力与其取食和排泄/排便行为相关。这项研究首次探究了克氏锥虫感染对侵扰锥蝽（半翅目：猎蝽科）取食及排泄/排便模式的影响。对未感染和感染的五龄若虫随意喂食，并记录它们在取食期间及取食后的取食行为和排便情况。实验各组之间的取食模式没有差异。然而，与未感染的若虫相比，感染的若虫开始排便的时间更早，排便量更大，且排便个体的比例更高。这些结果表明，克氏锥虫以一种会增加感染性粪便与哺乳动物宿主接触概率的方式影响了侵扰锥蝽的排泄/排便模式。
