In Peru , guinea fowl pigs are raise for nutrient . Unfortunately , these small mammalian also allow sustenance for bloodsucking insects that carryTrypanosoma cruzi , the agent of Chagas disease . And yearly guinea pig joint may have lead to the emersion and reemergence of the deadly parasite . The findings were published this week inProceedings of the Royal Society B.
Up to seven million people are infected withChagas diseaseworldwide , though most cases hap in Latin America . It starts with peel lesions , well lid , and feverishness and it can lead to cardiac disorder . The potentially life - threatening disease is transmitted specifically through the feces of septic “ kissing bug , ” orTriatoma infestans , which carry theT. cruziparasite . septic insects are often found living in the cracks of rural houses and at night they feed on the blood of sleeping humans and defecate close to the bite . The protozoan parasites can enter the consistence when they ’re smeared across the bite , the eyes or mouth , or any fracture in the tegument . But the process is so inefficient , Scienceexplains , that only one human becomes infect for every 1,700 kissing bug pungency .
Despite the inefficiency , the infection prevalence in humans pass 40 % in some communities . To investigate this unresolved paradox , an international team lead byUniversity of Pennsylvania ’s Michael LevystudiedT. cruzitransmission in the research laboratory and in the field around Arequipa , Peru . They allowed the bugs to feed on infected guinea pigs and they also documented all the repeat occurrences of bombastic settlement of triatomine bugs with high-pitched infection prevalence . They found that a subset of guinea pig rest extremely infectious to the vector for many months . But it ’s not just that …
Because of the seasonal rains , the area see huge fluctuations in the cost of lucerne , or guinea pig food for thought . So , during the drier months of May , June , and July – when prices for the notoriously piddle - dependent craw triple – resident kill most of their guinea pigs . They keep a few around for replenish the population when alfalfa prices drop .
However , this concentrates the louse vector on the diminished subgroup of greaseball pigs observe for replication . AndT. cruzipowers through these bug populations , create a considerable personnel of infection , the team conclude . The upshot is the emergence of a sponger whose transmission probably would have taper off out otherwise . More than 80 % of the kiss bugs pick out from two Numida meleagris pig pen were infect withT. cruzi , Sciencereports , while only about 6 % of microbe sampled aside from the rodent enclosures were infect .
