Who Feeds the Trypanosoma cruzi Vectors? Systematic Review, Geographic Distribution, and Decision Tree of Blood Meal Sources for Brazilian Triatomines
Year: 2026
Type: review
Study design: Systematic Review
Abstract: Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, affects 7 million people. Studying the ecology of triatomine vectors through midgut content analysis allows for infection diagnosis and the identification of blood meal sources (BMSs). Current BMS methodologies are limited by the accuracy of genetic data for local fauna, limiting species identification of hosts involved in parasite transmission. Here, we performed a systematic review on BMSs of T. cruzi vectors and showed the geographical distribution by T. cruzi lineages and vertebrate orders. We propose a decision tree system combining ecological and taxonomic approaches (EcoTaxDT) to discriminate ambiguous BMS results. The EcoTaxDT was validated using published and new BMS results. The review highlights the growing number of BMS studies and the awareness of host species potentially involved in transmission cycles. In Brazilian studies, EcoTaxDT allowed for taxonomic assignments when genetic identity was insufficient or when identified taxa had no geographical occurrence. New BMS results, validated by EcoTaxDT, showed triatomines feeding on Natalus macrourus, Echimyidae, Tettigoniidae, and Tropidurus itambere. Reliable BMS data and T. cruzi diagnosis are crucial for understanding transmission dynamics and human infection risk. EcoTaxDT is functional in correcting inconsistent BMS outputs, ensuring robust and consistent results by integrating genetic, taxonomy, and species geographical distribution.
Source: Microorganisms
Institution: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,258
OpenAlex ID: W7154390248