from Wild Ecotopes in Northern Chile

Abstract. We evaluated Trypanosoma cruzi infection in 397 wildMepraia gajardoi specimens from five coastal locali-ties in northern Chile by detection of minicircle DNA by polymerase chain reaction. The wild capture sites were classified into two ecotopes: a fully wild ecotope (ecotope 1) and a wild ecotope near human dwellings (ecotope 2). Infection rates varied between 11 % and 27%. Minicircle hybridization assays showed that T. cruzi lineages Tc II and Tc VI were commonly detected in ecotope 1 and ecotope 2, respectively. These results are discussed in the context of insect proximity to human dwellings, the alimentary profile of Mepraia sp., T. cruzi lineages detected in the past in the same disease-endemic area circulating in humans, and Triatoma infestans. Chagas disease is a human parasitic disease in the Western Hemisphere that is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, and trans-mitted by blood-sucking insects of the subfamily Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae).1 The taxon T. cruzi is divided into six discrete typing units or lineages (Tc I–Tc VI).2 In T. cruzi, mitochondrial DNA or kinetoplast DNA is composed of maxicircles and minicircles. At least 12 maxicircles are pre-sent per cell, and they contain mitochondrial genes. Th