Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1251-1259
Copyright @ 1983 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Abstract. A total of 46 Trypanosoma rangeli stocks were isolated from naturally infected
mammals and triatomine vectors. Twenty-two stocks were from the common opossum (Di-
delphis marsupialis), one from the brown "4-eyed" opossum (Metachirus nudicaudatus), one
from the anteater (Tamandua tetradactyla), one from the coati (Nasua nasua), seven from
Rhodnius pictipes and 14 from Rhodnius robustus. Two stocks were also isolated from
recently fed sandflies (Lutzomyia sp., Shannoni group). The stocks were identified as T.
rangeli on the basis of natural or experimental salivary gland infections in Rhodnius, inoc-
ulative (anterior station) transmission to mice, morphological parameters in parasitemic mice
and compari sons of isozyme profiles with a known stock of T. rangeli isolated from mano
Three other trypanosome stocks from D. marsupialis, T. tetradactyla and the three-toed sloth
(Bradypus tridactylus) were morphologically similar to T. rangeli in culture but had quite
different isozyme profiles and were not identified. It is concluded that T. rangeli is widely
distributéd in Amazonas,Pará and Rondonia States of Brazil, and probably extendsinto other
regions where R. pictipes and R. robustus are known to occur. R. pictipes is light-attracted
into houses and occasionally transmits Chagas' diseaseto mano It is likely that T. rangeli is
also occasionally transmitted to man in the Amazon basin.
Trypamosoma rangeli was first described in history and biology of T. rangeli have been re-
1920, by Tejera, on the basis of flagellates viewed in detail by both Hoare4 and D' Alessan-
morphologically distinct from those of Trypano- dro.1
soma cruzi that were seen in the teces of the tri- J)' Alessandro acceptsrecords of T. rangeli from
atomine bug Rhodnius prolixus, captured in houses triatomine bugs and mammals in the Americas as
in Venezuela. In 1936, De Leon found the organ- being biologlca1lyproven only when substantiated
ism in man in Guatemala, although it may have by salivary gland infections or by transmissionex-
been seen much earlier in Peru under the name periments.1Many T. rangeli-like organisms which
T. escomeli.l T. rangeli infection is pathogenic to may undergo somedevelopmentin triatomine bugs
both naturally and experimentally infected vec- have been reported, and several are na:rnedas dis-
tors, yet human infections are apparently quite tinct species,although their relationship to T. ran-
harmless.2,3Transmission is by inoculation of in- geli is unclear.1,4By D' Alessandro'scriteria p~pv-
fected saliva during bug-feeding; nevertheless,the en natural vectors of T. rangeli are R. prolixus,
organism (subgenus Herpetosoma) is considered R. paUescens,R. ecuadoriensis, R. pictipes, R.
as belonging to the section Stercoraria in which robustus, Triatoma dimidiata capitata, and pos-
transmission is usually contaminative.4 T. rangeli sibly R. brethesi.1.5 Proven naturally infected
is widely distributed in Central and northern South mammal hosts are Didelphis marsupialis (com-
America and is often sympatric with T. cruzi, and mon opossum),Philander opossum(Grey, "4-eyed"
serological cross-reactions between sera from hu- opossum),Tamanduatetradactyla (anteater),Cavia
man T. cruzi and T. rangeli infections are said to proceUus(guinea pig), Oryzomysconcolor (rice rat),
confuse epidemiological studies. The interesting Eira barbara (tayra), Procyon lotor (raccoon),and
the primares, Cebusspp. (capuchin), Saimiri spp.
several occasions, noted T. rangeli-like trypano- FIGURE1. Collection sites oí mammals, triatomine
somes in the Amazon Basin. Reported hosts are bugs, and sandflies that were shown to be naturally in-
D. marsuPialis,9 P. (=Metachirops) opossuml0 íected with Trypanosoma rangeli, 1, Didelphis marsu-
and Saimiri sciureus;ll in addition, T. diasi pialisj 2, Metachirus nudicaudatusj3, Tamandua tetra-
dactylaj 4, Nasua nasuaj 5, Rhodnius pictipesj 6,
and T. saimiri, considered by both Hoare and Rhodnius robustusj 7, Lutzomyia sp. Compare with 10-
D'Alessandro to be T. rangeli-like, were found calities listed in Table 1.
in Cebus and Saimiri, respectively.1.4.12,13None
of these organisms invaded the salivary glands of
experimentally infected R. prolixus. A se~rch by sandfly vectors of cutaneous leishmaniasis,14,15 in
D'Alessandro and Prado for T. rangeli in Brazil parallel with which studies of T. cruzi zymodemes16
and Argentina was unsuccessful,5although this and the search for Trypanosoma rangeli were
was based only on the examination of domestic planned. The localities included, in Amazonas
Triatoma infestans and the results of human xe- State, the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas de
nodiagnosis. The same authors concluded that alI Amazonia (INPA) campus and two growing sub-
records of T. rangeli in Brazil are equivocal, and urbs, Cidade Nova and Parque das Laranjeiras,
they encouraged further studies. of the city of Manaus, the Ducke Forest Reserve
In this paper we show that T. rangeli is indeed near to Manaus and km 65 on the BR319 highway
presentin Brazil, that R. pictipes and R. robustus (Manaus-Porto Velho). In Rondonia State collec-
are natural vectors widely distributed in the Bra- tions were made at various points between km 20
zilian Amazon basin, and that D. marsupialis, and 142 on the BR364 highway (Porto Velho-
Metachirus nudicaudatus (brown, "4-eyed" opos- Cuiaba). The vegetation, at alI sites, was a com-
sum), T. tetradactyla, and Nasua nasua (coati)are bination of disturbed primary forest and second-
naturally infected mammal hosts. The methods ~ry growth, cleared of most large trees, as has
been described elsewhere.14, 15,17Palm trees were
used were the discovery of salivary gland infec-
tions in naturally infected triatomine bugs, mor- abundant in the Manaus suburbs and in R(>ndon-
phological comparisons, and transmission exper- ia, and this encouraged investigations as palms
iments, supported by comparisons of isozyme are known to be habitats of triatomine bugs of the
genus Rhodnius.17,18
profiles with those of T. rangeli isolated from mano
The epidemiological implications of the presence
of T. rangeli in Brazil are considered. Collection and examination 0/ mammals
F
-;j..
HOSTS AND VECTORS OF TRYPANOSOMA RANGEU IN BRAZIL 1253
TABLE 1
I solation histories of48* Trypanosoma rangeli stocks examined
marsuPialis I AMAZONAS
(common opossum) Manaus Cidade Nova IM449(A)
Manaus Parque das Laranjeiras (*)IM273(A); IM3l0(A); (*)IM5l0(A)
Ducke Forest ReserveAMOlO km 26 IM68(A)
BR3l9 km 65 (*)IM568(B)
RONDONIA
BR364 km 20-65 IM88(A); IM92(A); (*)IMlOl(A);
(*)IM122(A); (*)IM123(A); IMl44(B);
IMl46(B); (*)IMl58(A); (*)IMl70(A);
(*)IM1284(B,C); IM1296(B);
(*)IM1298(B); IMl3l6(B)
km 111 (*)IMl389(B)
Estrada Belnfunte km 11 (*)IMlO6(A)
M etachirus nudicaudatus RONDONIA (*)IMl3l4(B)
(brown, "4-eyed" opossum) BR364 km 54
Tamandua tetradactyla RONDONIA
(anteater) BR364 km 92 IM1269(B)
Nasua nasua RONDONIA
(coati) BR364 km 92 1M 1249(A)
Rhodnius pictipes AMAZONAS
Manaus Parque das Laranjeiras BUG 1333/2 INT(B)j (*)BUG 1333/9
INT(B); BUG 1333/9GL(B); BUG
1814INT(B); BUG 1821 INT(B)j
BUG 1823INT(B)
RONDONIA
BR364 km '23 (*)BUG 861 INT(B)
robustus AMAZONAS
Manaus Parque das Laranjeiras *)BUG 1752 INT(B)j BUG 1752
GL(B)j BUG 1791INT(B); BUG
1798 INT(B)j BUG 1798 GL(B)j
BUG 1801 GL(B); BUG 1946
INT(B); BUG 1946 GL(B)j BUG
1949GL(B); BUG 1958 INT(B)j
BUG 1958 GL(B)j BUG 1959
GL(B)j CX 503(C); CX 507(C)
Lutzomyia sp. RONDONIA
(Shannoni group) BR364 km 20 IMI086 INT(B); IMI087 INT(B)
,..
* Stocksderived by different routes from lhe salDe bost are considered separately"
t Soe Figure 1.
* (*) indicates stocks of T rangeli tbat were mixed with T. c",zi. ,.
§ (A), stocksisolated by culture of cardia.: blood from lhe natural vertebrate host on biphasic blood-agar medium;2' (B), stocksobtained by culture of
naturally infected triatomine bug fetos, salivary glands, or fetos of xenodiagnosisbugs; in addition, two stocks isolated by culture of sandfly intestinal
tra.:tz. INT = culture of intestinal tra.:t or fetos; GL ~ culture of salivary glands; (C), stocksobtained by transmissionto mito during feeding of naturally
infected bugs or by intraperitoneal inoculation of infected xenodiagnosisbug fetos, and subsequentlycultured from infected mouse cardia.: blood.
" Prevalence of T. rangeli infection in D. marsupialis was 10-30% in localities listed.
Rhodnius
MILES ET AL.
nosis and grown in vitro by culture of acterization of T. cruzi stocks,21and included the
xenodiagnosis bug teces or salivary glands using routine preparation and exarnination of Giemsa-
gentamycin and 5'-fluorocytosine to prevent con- stained films of each population of organisms that
tamination;22C refers to stocks isolated by xeno- was harvested. The 11 enzymesused in this study
diagnosis, passagedinto mice by intraperitoneal were: malate dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.1.1.37,
inoculation of xenodiagnosisbug teces,and grown MDH); malate dehydrogenase (oxaloacetate de-
in vitro by the culture of mouse cardiac blood. carboxylating) (NADP+) (E.C. 1.1.1.40, ME); iso-
citrate dehydrogenase (NADP+) (E.C. 1.1.1.42,
Collection and examination of triatomine bugs ICD); phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (decar-
boxylating) (E.C. 1.1.1.44, 6PGDH); glucose-6-
The majority of triatomine bugs were collected phosphatedehydrogenase(E.C. 1.1.1.49, G6PD);
by the systematic dissection of palm trees18-the aspartateaminotransferase(E.C. 2.6.1.1, ASAT);
"inajá" (Maximiliana regia) palm in the vicinity alanine arninotransferase (E.C. 2.6.1.2, ALAT);
of Manaus and the "babaçu" palm (Orbignya spe- phosphoglucomutase(E.C. 2.7.5.1, PGM); ami-
ciosa) in Rondonia.17A smalI number of adultR. nopeptidase (cytosol)(E.C. 3.4.11.1; PEP); acon-
pictipes were captured in light-traps like those de- itate hydratase (E.C. 4.2.1.3, ACON), and glu-
scribed by Whitlaw and Chaniotis.23The intesti- cosephosphateisomerase(E.C. 5.3.1.9, GPI). The
nal tracts and salivary glands of samples of R. isozyme profiles of T. rangeli stocks were com-
pictiPes and R. roliustus from eachfield colIection pared visually with those of T. rangeli stock R1625
were dissectedand examined by phase microscopy isolated from a patient in EI Salvador by culture
for T. rangeli and/or T. cruzi. Hemolymph was of venous blood on Seneckjie'smedium, and kind-
not routinely examined. Almost alI isolares of T. ly provided by Dr M. Sauerbrey(CARS/CDC). T.
rangeli from naturalIy infected R. pictipes and R. cruzi stocksrepresentingT. cruzi zymodemeswere
robustus were made by the direct culture of in- algoincluded in electrophoresisto detect mixed T.
fected bug feces or salivary glands (B in Table 1). rangeli/T. cruzi infections.
Occasionally, T. rangeli stocks were obtained by
feeding bugs on mice or by intraperitoneal inoc- Experimentaltransmission
ulation of infected fecesinto mice and subsequent
culture of mouse cardiac blood (C in Table 1). Trypanosomarangeli stocks were passagedex-
Two T. rangeli stocks were also isolated by direct perimentally, through the entire life cycle, by
culture of the intestinal tracts of recently fed Lut- membrane feeding laboratory-reared Rhodnius
zomyia sp. (Shannoni group) sandflies. spp. on cultures and subsequently refeeding on
uninfected, juvenile mice. These studies will be
M ouse infections and morphological comparisons described in detail in a later reporto
251
ESULTS
HOSTS AND VECTORS OF TRYPANOSOMA RANGEU IN BRAZn. 1255
TABLE 2
Morphological comparisonsbetweenBrazilian T. rangeli stocks,T. rangeli isolatedfrom man, and published records
No.
mea- . Parameterst
Stock code sured* L PK KN F NI KI
IM144 (D. marsupialis) 20 28.3-36.7 2.7-4.3 7.0-11.7 7.0-12.0 7.0-11.0 1.0-1.8 1.3-1.5
(32.7) (3.4) (9.4) (10.4) (9.6) (1.3) (1.4)
BUG 1768GL:I: (R. robustus) 27 27.7-35.3 2.7-4.3 8.0-10.7 6.7-12.3 7.3-13.0 1.0-2.0 1.3-1.5
(31.7) (3.5) (9.6) (9.2) (9.3) (1.5) (1.4)
BUG 1798GL (R. Tobustus) 25 27.0-37.0 1.7-5.7 7.0-12.7 6.6-11.7 5.0-10.3 0.9-2.2 1.2-1.5
(29.1) (3.3) (9.2) (9.1) (7.5) (1.4) (1.4)
BUG 1801 GL (R. robustus) 10 25.7-33.3 2.7-4.0 7.0-12.0 5.0-10.6 7.3-12.7 1.à-2.7 1.2-1.5
(30.8) (3.2) (9.9) (7.9) (9.7) (1.8) (1.3)
R1625 (man) 23 28.0-36.0 2.7-4.0 9.3-12.7 6.3-11.7 7.0-10.7 1.1-2.2 1.2-1.4
(32.1) (3.3) (10.7) (8.8) (9.4) (1.6) (1.3)
Various§ (27.0-32.2)
25.0-37.0 1.8-7.0
---(7.9-9.5)8.2-10.0 (1.2-1.7) (1.6-2.0)
phasic blood agar culture medium and their ponents, similar to those reported for T. cruzi.21
morphology, as assessedby phase microscopy and Mixed T. rangelilT. cruzi infections were easily
examination of Giemsa-stained thin films, was recognized by the presence of two superimposed
eitherthat of T. rangeli or T. rangeli/T. cruzi mix- characteristic patterns within a single enzyme ex-
tures. Similar morphological forms were seen in tract. The intensity of either the T. rangeli or T.
naturally infected triatomine bugs or xenodiag- cruzi pattern in thesemixed stocks was frequently
nosis bugs. A total of 16 stocks were shown to be weak, and somemixtures in which one population
T. rangeli/T. cruzi mixtures on the basis of mor- ovêrgrew the other may have been missed.
pholQgy and/or the presenceof superimposed iso- Several of the Brazilian T. rangeli stocks were
zyme profiles (Table 1). Infections of 14 stocks transmitted experimentally through the entire life
were established in mice by inoculation of cultures cycle using laboratory-bred triatomine bugs and
past peak growth; they were: three from D. mar- mice. In alI aspectsbehavior and morphology were
supialis, two from R. pictipes, eight from R. ro- consistent with those of T. rangeli. These results
bustus and the T. rangeli standard stock R1625. will be described in detail elsewhere. '
The morphology of trypomastigotes in infected The geographical distribution of the original
mice was characteristic of T. rangelij occasionally hosts of the T. rangeli isolaresis shown in Figúre
T. cruzi was algOnoted in mice inoculated with 1. D. marsuPialis was commonly infected in the
mixed T. rangeli/T. cruzi stocks. Trypomastigotes vicinity of Manaus, and both R. pictipes and R.
of four stocks were measured in Giemsa-stained robustus were vectors. In Rondonia StateD. mar-
thin films of parasitemic mouse blood and their supialis, M. nudicaudatus, T. tetradactyla andN.
dimensions were compared with those of the stan- nasua were infected, as was R. pictipes. One of
dard R1625 as shown in Table 2. 38 R. pictipes and 12 of 61 R. robustus examined
The isozymeprofiles of the newly isolated stocks from the Parque das Laranjeiras had natural sal-
corresponded with that of the T. rangeli standard ivary gland infections. Morphological forms in the
R1625 (Fig. 2) except for slight variation in the glands were as described for T. rangelij1.4 some
position of the principal, fast, ALA T band or mi- infections were massive, with glands packed with
nor mobility differences in the main PEP com- metatrypanosomes. No salivary gland infections
1256 MILES ET AL.
FIGURE2. Examples of isozyrneprofiles. The enzyrnesshown are: (a) ME; (b) ASATj (c) PGM; .and (d) GPI.
In each casethe trypanosomestocks are (from left to right): I, R 1625-Trypanosoma rangeli from man, EI Salvador;
2, IM92-T. rangeli from Didelphis marsupialis, Rondonia State, Brazilj 3, Bug 333/9 GL-T. rangeli from Rhod-
nius PictiPes, Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil; 4, Bug 1752 GL-T. rangeli from Rhodnius robustus, Manaus,
Amazonas State, Brazil; 5, IMI087-T. rangeli from Lutzomyia sp. (Shannoni group), Rondonia State, Brazilj 6,
IM418-unidentified, from Bradypus tridactylus, Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazilj 7, 1M 1269-T. rangeli from
Tamandua tetradactyla, Rondonia State, Brazil. Scale: the application threads at the origin measureapproximately
1 cm.
Trypanosoma rangeli infections of R. pictipes studies of this kind is emphasized by the clear
and R. robustus were recently discovered in Ven- distinction (Fig. 2) of three unidentified"stocksfrom
ezuela.19Although this was not the impetus for single specimens of D. marsupialis, T. tetradac-
the present study, in retrospectthese observations tyla and B. tridactylus, from the T. rangeli stocks
in Venezuelasuggestthat T. rangeli was likely to listed in Table 1. The importance of biochemical
be found in the same triatomine species in the characterization in elucidating complex epide-
Brazilian Amazon. The known geographical dis- miologies has been clearly demonstrated previ-
tribution of R. pictipes and R. robustus is, for R. ously with Leishmania and T. cruzi. 30Monoclonal
pictipes: Bolivia, Brazil (Amazonas, Goiás, MatO antibodies31and genetic probes32provide alter-
Grosso, Pará and Rondonia States), Colombia, native techniques directly applicable to such epi-
Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suri- demiological investigations.
nam, Trinidad and Venezuela, and for R. robus- Trypanosomarangeli and T. cruzi are sympatric
tus: Bolivia, Brazil (Amazonas, Pará and Ron- in many regions; in some localities T. rangeli in-
donia States),Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, fections in man may be much more common than
Peru and Venezuela.17,26,27It seems predictable, T. cruzi infections. I. 33In natu,rally infected pri-
therefore, that T. rangeli will be found in other mate speciesT. rangeli has beenfound to be more
arfas such as Goiás State, Brazil, and Trinidad, prevalent than T. cruzi. 34.35This difference prob-
in association with the same vector species, es- ably reflects the ease of transmission by the in-
pecially as the most common mammal host of T. oculative rather than the contaminative route. Al-
rangeli in our localities (Table 1), the opossumD. though T. rangeli is not pathogenic to man,
marsupialis, is ubiquitous throughout the ranges serological cross reaction may hinder epidemio-
of R. pictipes and R. robustus. Both R. pictipes logical surveys and individual diagnosis of T. cru-
and R. robustus are associated with palm tree zi infection.1 A differential diagnostic test is not
habitats.17Collection of bugs from palms, and ex- available but has become more feasible with the
amination by either the cultivation of teces fol- advent of species-specific monoclonal antibod-
lowed by isozyme characterization of trypanosome ies.36Chagas'diseaseis rare in the Amazon basin
stocks, or by the simple technique described by and only sporadic autochthonous caseshave been
Anez,28would rapidly enhance understanding of reported.37R. pictiPes, light-attracted into houses
the geographical distribution of T. rangeli. from infested palm trees, has been implicated as
We have found slight isozyme heterogeneity a source of such infections.17The fact that R. pic-
amongst the T. rangeli stocks examined. Other tipes and R. robustus are vectors of T. rangeli in
authors have reported heterogeneity on the basis the Brazilian Amazon basin implies, especially in
of enzyme electrophoresis29or the variable sus- view of the inoculative transmission route, that
ceptibility of triatomine bug speciesto T. rangeli occasional human T. rangeli infections in the re-
isolated in different regions.1A complex T. rangeli gion are to be expected.
epidemiology is implied from the number of T. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
rangeli-like species,with controversial taxonomic
status, that have been described.L 4 The ecotopes We thank F. S. Gomes,R. M. Almeida, R. N.
of R. pictipes and R. robustus are not fuIly under- L. Santos,J. Vidal and R. A. Freitas for assis-
stood,17and there may be differencesbetweentheir tance in the field; C. R. Sena and D. S. Lima of
mammal hosts and roles as vectors of T. rangeli. the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisasda Amazpnia
As far as we are aware, little work has beendone (CNPq) for technial assistance, and Colo Jorge
to assessthe capacity of other Amazonian triato- Teixeira, Govemor of the State of Rondonia, for
mine species,18including species of the genus accessto study areasand logistical support. MAM
Rhodnius such as R. paraensis, to transmit T. is a Wellcome Trust Senior Lecturer and we are
rangeli. The role of primate speciesas potential grateful to the following for financial support:
hosts of T. rangeli in the Amazon Basin clearly the Wellcome Trust (London); the UNDP/World
merits further investigation. T. rangeli-like organ- Bank/WHO Special programme for researchand
isms have been seenin S. sciureus; arboreal tria- training in tropical diseases;CNPq Grandes En-
tomine bugs such as Panstrongylus lignarius and demias Grant No. 222.8.087/80 (Brazil)j Funda-
R. pictipes may live in close association with pri- ção SESP(Brazil); Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas
mates and even form part of their diet.11 da Amazônia CNPq (Brazil); and the Federal
The value of isozyme profiles in epidemiological Govemment of the State of Rondonia (Brazil).
1258 MILES ET AL.