SEROLOGIC SURVEY OF ANTIBODIES TOTRYPANOSOMA CRUZIIN COYOTES AND RED FOXES FROM PENNSYLVANIA AND TENNESSEE

• DOI: 10.1638/2014-0117.1
• Publication Date: 2014-12-31T19:18:22Z
• Authors: Alexa C. Rosypal; Trynecia Smith; Andrew Alexander; Melanie Weaver; Richard Stewart; Allan Houston; Richard Gerhold; Kyle Van Why; Jitender P. Dubey
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Trypanosoma cruzi; Animals; Antibodies, Protozoan; Foxes; Chagas Disease; Pennsylvania; Coyotes; Tennessee; 3. Good health

Trypanosoma cruzi is a zoonotic parasite of humans and other mammalian hosts with distribution throughout the Americas. Domestic and wild canine species are reservoirs for human T. cruzi infections. The present study examined the prevalence of antibodies to T. cruzi in wild canids from the United States. Sera from 13 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and 263 coyotes (Canis latrans), originating in Pennsylvania and Tennessee, were assayed for antibodies to T. cruzi with immunochromatographic tests. Antibodies to T. cruzi were found in 2 of 276 (0.72%) of all wild canids tested. Both T. cruzi-positive wild canids were coyotes and represented 2 of 21 (9.52%) wild canids assayed from Tennessee. Antibodies to T. cruzi were not detected in red fox. Anti-T. cruzi antibodies were not found in any wild canids from Pennsylvania. These results suggest that coyotes are exposed to T. cruzi in Tennessee but not in Pennsylvania.