View article

The flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (order Kinetoplastida) is the aetiological agent of Chagas' disease. The disease, predominantly rural, affects approximately 10-12 million people living in Latin America. Thus, from the medical point of view, T. cruzi is the most important trypanosomatid in the New World.

Classically, T. cruzi is transmitted by insects of the family Reduviidae (cf. HOARE 1972), of which some representative species are Panstrongylus megistus, Triatoma infestans and Rhodnius prolixus. However, it is estimated that 10000-20000 new cases per year in Brazil are due to blood transfusion; undoubtedly this is the second most important mechanism of disease transmission (cf. COLLI 1979; BRENER and CAMARGO 1982). Congenital transmission and transmission via kidney transplants have also been reported. Scientists have become infected through accidental self-inoculation by contaminated …