Identification of immunodominant antigens in Mexican strains of Trypanosoma cruzi.

Chagas disease represents an important public health problem. In Mexico most studies have been performed using Trypanosoma cruzi' antigens extracted from strains of other geographical origins. This work was aimed at developing a reactive antigen to perform serological diagnosis of Chagas' disease, using Mexican T. cruzi strains. We prepared antigenic extracts from epimastigotes, trypomastigotes and sphaeromastigotes of three Mexican strains. Parasites homogenate was obtained by lysis and sonication, solubilized proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE, Western-blot assays, and ELISA to determine the reactivity against sera from chagasic reference serum and chagasic and leishmaniasic patients and healthy donors. Western Blot profiles revealed, with the reference serum, eleven main components between 212 to 25 kDa; however, five bands corresponding to 74, 44, 31, 25 and 18 kDa antigens were recognized by the T. cruzi reactive sera from Mexican chagasic patients, which did not cross-react with Leishmania mexicana. Antigens from the Tequesquitengo strain yielded the best reactivity in the enzymatic immunoassay, thus enabling us to propose their use for serodiagnoses of Chagas' disease in Mexico.

First case of natural infection in pigs. Review of Trypanosoma cruzi reservoirs in Mexico.

An epidemiological research project was performed in the State of Morelos including collection of samples for blood smears and culture, serological tests, and xenodiagnoses from a total of 76 domestic and peridomestic mammals. Two strains of Trypanosoma cruzi were isolated by haemocultures; one from a pig (Sus scrofa), the first case of natural infection reported in Mexico, and the other from a dog (Canis familiaris). This study summarizes current information in Mexico concerning confirmed reservoirs of T. cruzi.

Seropositividad a Tripanosoma cruzi en cuatro grupos de población del estado de Oaxaca / Seropositivity to Trypanosoma cruzi in four population groups of the Oaxaca State

Con el antecedente del hallazgo en el estado de Oaxaca de casos agudos de enfermedad de Chagas detectados por la Comisión Nacional para la Erradicación del Paludismo y con objeto de poner de manifiesto la importancia de esta parasitosis en dicho estado, se llevó a cabo el presente estudio por medio de un muestreo de la población humana en cuatro municipios, con un total de 1.210 sueros procesados mediante la técnica de hemaglutinación indirecta. Los resultados dieron 158 negativos y 1.052 reactores con anticuerpos de los que 111 se consideraron positivos. Llama la atención la seropositividad detectada en el grupo de los escolares

Primer caso de megaesofago con serologia positiva a Trypanosoma cruzi / The first case of megaesophagus with positive serology to Trypanosoma cruzi

Se presenta el primer caso de mefaesofago chagasico en la Republica Mexicana diagnosticado por medio de la serologia, sus antecedentes epidemiologicos, los datos clinicos y la histopatologia. Se hace enfasis en la importancia que dia a dia cobra la enfermedad de Chagas en el pais