New Hairdresser Identified Could Cause Chagas Disease – USP Newspaper

P P researchers from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB) of the University of São Paulo (USP) identified for the first time the protozoan responsible for the disease of Chagas Trypanosoma cruzi ) among barbers of the species [21]. Rhodnius montenegrensis, collected in the city of Monte Negro, Rondônia. Scientists have also found barbers infected with Trypanosoma rangeli who do not cause the disease but may confuse the diagnosis.

The discovery generated the article First report of a natural infection with Trypanosoma cruzi in Rhodnius montenegrensis (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae) in the western Amazon, Brazil [196459009] Studies with the population resident of neighboring localities where barbers were found to indicate no transmission of the disease. However, only the presence of the insect near homes is already alert because it represents a risk to the population. According to a systematic review published in 2014, there are an estimated 4.6 million cases of Chagas disease in Brazil.

The study was conducted by researcher Adriana Benatti Bilheiro, of the University. Federal University of São João del Rey, under the direction of Professor Marcelo Aranha Camargo, coordinator of the ICB5, advanced core of the USP in the city of Monte Negro, which conducts scientific research activities and of 39, teaching, as well as health projects with the community

The species Rhodnius montenegrensis was described in 2012 by researcher João Aristeu da Rosa, professor at Araraquara campus of Pauli State University. (Unesp), a field study on the collection of hairdressers coordinated by Aranha Camargo

"This discovery is very important because it is a new species on which we find the T. cruzi and it has a potential for transmission.We only think that this is not happening yet because the environment of the Amazonian home is inhospitable to the barber, "says the coordinator of the ICB5.

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According to Aranha Camargo, the infection profile of T. cruzi has changed over the years. Previously, the states of the Northeast, apart from São Paulo and Minas Gerais, concentrated cases of Chagas in Brazil, with transmission of the disease through the urine and feces of the hairdresser, which houses the parasites and which , in turn, penetrate through the skin. location of the sting. The mud houses, which were very common in these places, were an ideal habitat for the hairdresser: an adequate temperature and spaces on the walls where they could hide and reproduce, leaving the night to feed on human blood.

"In the last ten years, the onset of Chagas disease has varied from the south-east-north-east axis to the north, where we have between 30% and 40% of Brazilian cases, that's a thousand new cases reported only in the region in the last ten years, "reports Aranha Camargo. In Monte Negro, most homes are covered with an asbestos roof, which leaves the place very hot and without "hiding places" for the hairdresser.

Food Contamination

Currently, transmission is much less vector-borne, ie feces and urine from the barber at the site of the bite, and much more by contamination. food. The hairdresser is attracted by the light of the house and can fall into the food and be crushed or crushed. In this type of contamination, the disease manifests itself in a more severe, more virulent form, because of the way the parasite presents itself to the human immune system. "In the state of Pará, due to the habit of consuming açaí in natura in which the pulp and seeds have to be ground, oral contamination is very current account, account

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In Monte Negro, barbers were found alive at the # 39 inside mainly babbadu and bacuri palms, where they find shelter and feed on the blood of rats, birds, skunks and other marsupials. In the future, they will be able to migrate to human habitat and start feeding on dogs, pigs and chickens. In the case of babbadu, deforestation and burning favor its proliferation.

Aranha Camargo says that on average five barbers per palm tree have been found. The closer the houses are, the more these insects are numerous. "Whether you are domiciled or not, it still represents a risk of transmission of T. cruzi orally, because it can contaminate food being prepared."

Chagas Disease

Chagas disease has two phases. Acute infection occurs between one week and 15 days after infection and can be confused with febrile illness, malaria, dengue fever or influenza. The place where the parasite has deposited the feces and the urine becomes swollen and reddish (chagome). In this acute phase, many people may die of meningoencephalitis (a type of meningitis) and myocarditis (acute inflammation of the heart may cause cardiac arrest and cardiac arrhythmia).

"No diagnosis is made at this stage," complains Aranha Camargo. "It would be easy to make the diagnosis as we do for malaria," he says, noting that ICB5, as the USP's research unit, makes the diagnosis for Chagas, but that does not happen systematically in the SUS.

acute phase, the disease enters its silent form. The parasite reproduces in the cells of the heart muscle and digestive tract.

In general, 30% of those infected do not show symptoms and die of Chagas disease but without clinical manifestation of the disease.

Another group of about 30% has gastrointestinal manifestations. The most common are difficulty swallowing, swallowing food and eliminating feces. When it develops in the nerve cells of the digestive tract, the parasite destroys them, resulting in a loss of motility of this system (which pushes the food bolus from the mouth to the anus). The esophagus can lose the movement that grows food and many people die from malnutrition. Others have stop digestive system in the terminal part and can not eliminate the feces, there are weeks left without evacuating. In the next phase, the researchers intend to extend the study and check the presence of barbers in the four Rondônia biomes – Photo: Adriana Benatti Bilheiro

The other about 30% the heart forms of the disease develop. The parasite multiplies in the heart and destroys the fibers of the organ, which should be elastic, but it becomes fibrous (healed) and loses its ability to contract. Depending on where the parasite is housed, it can also disrupt the electrical stimulus state of the body's electrical system, thereby causing arrhythmias or heart failure – or both.

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In some cases, about 10%, the disease manifests itself both in its cardiac and digestive form.

Treatment is carried out with benzonidazole, distributed by Sistema nico. (SUS) with a certain regularity. The drug is able to cure Chagas disease because it kills the parasite and stops its multiplication.

The earlier the treatment is, the better the chances of recovery without changes in the severity of the disease. The diagnosis is not usually fast. In Monte Negro, for example, the public sector is trained to carry out malaria tests, but not for Trypanosoma cruzi .

"I suggest to the government to qualify the same microscopists who were diagnosed to be trained to identify T. In the next phase, the researchers intend to extend the study and check the presence of barbers in the four biomes existing in Rondônia: cerrado, entropic zone (pastures where According to the researchers, "in the state of Rondônia, there is no case of indigenous case of Chagas in recent years.However, there exists six species of triatomine (hairdressers), a large variety of wild reservoirs of the T. cruzi and a process of intense deforestation that may, over time, cause invasion and colonization of triatomines in areas