Trypanosoma cruzi infection in a dog in a non-endemic area: implications for one health

Abstract

The protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi causes Chagas disease also known as American trypanosomiasis, a vector-borne zoonosis widely dispersed across 21 countries in the Americas that can be transmitted to humans, wild and domestic animals mostly through the infected faeces of the blood-sucking triatomine insects. The role of dogs as sentinels or domestic reservoir for T. cruzi has been reported around the world. This study reports for the first time a natural infection by T. cruzi in a dog in Northeastern Brazil, and draws attention to the importance of dogs in the epidemiology of this disease within the context of One Health.