Molecular epidemiologic source tracking of orally transmitted Chagas disease, Venezuela.

01 Jul 2013
Segovia M, Carrasco HJ, Martínez CE, Messenger LA, Nessi A, Londoño JC, Espinosa R, Martínez C, Alfredo M, Bonfante-Cabarcas R, Lewis MD, de Noya BA, Miles MA, Llewellyn MS.

Oral outbreaks of Chagas disease are increasingly reported in Latin America. The transitory presence of Trypanosoma cruzi parasites within contaminated foods, and the rapid consumption of those foods, precludes precise identification of outbreak origin. We report source attribution for 2 peri-urban oral outbreaks of Chagas disease in Venezuela via high resolution microsatellite typing.