Abstract
CHAGAS' disease, in which the aetiological agent is Trypanosoma cruzi, is a principal cause of morbidity and mortality on the South American continent; at least 10 million people are said to be infected1. There is no vaccine or acceptable chemotherapy2, and insecticide control of domiciliated triatomine vectors (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) remains problematical. Human survivors of the acute phase of infection commonly develop electrocardiographic abnormalities, chronic cardiomyopathy and singular chagasic syndromes consisting of cardiomegaly, megacolon and megaoesophagus. T. cruzi from diverse mammals and vectors are morphologically indistinguishable3, and are prudently treated as a single entity pathogenic to man. However, heterogeneity has been suspected4 from behaviour in experimental hosts, discordant therapeutic trials, and, most notably, from both the enigmatic, disparate geographical distribution of chagasic syndromes among infected populations5 and the different descriptions of the pathogenesis of the heart disease6,7. By means of enzyme electrophoresis, we show here, for the first time, the heterogeneity of T. cruzi infecting man.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
World Health Organization, TDR/WP/76.12 (1976).
Gutteridge, W. E. Trop. Dis. Bull. 73, 699–705 (1976).
Hoare, C. A. in The Trypanosomes of Mammals (Blackwell, Oxford, 1972).
Miles, M. A. in Biology of the Kinetoplastida 2 (eds Lumsden, W. H. R. & Evans, D. A.) (Academic, London, (in the press)).
Rezende, J. F. M. de Proc. Int. Symp. Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 195–205 (Washjngton: Pan American Health Organization Scientific Publication No. 318, 1976).
Koberle, F. in Trypanosomiasis and Leishmaniasis with Special Reference to Chagas' Disease Ciba Symp. 20, 137–158 (1974).
Andrade, Z. A. in Proc. Int. Symp. Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 146–151 (Washington: Pan American Health Organization, Scient. Publ. No. 318, 1976).
Hunter, R. L. & Markert, C. L. Science 125, 1294–1295 (1957).
Markert, C. L. (ed.) Isozymes (Academic, London, 1975).
Harris, H. & Hopkinson, D. A., in Handbook of Enzyme Electrophoresis in Human Genetics (North Holland, Amsterdam, 1976).
Miles, M. A., Toyé, P. J., Oswald, S. C. & Godfrey, D. G. Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 71, 217–225 (1977).
IUPAC & IUB Enzyme Nomenclature: (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1972).
IUPAC Biochim. biophys. Acta 429, 1–45 (1975).
Shaw, J. J., Lainson, R. & Fraiha, H. Rev. Saúde Públ. 3, 153–157 (1969).
Kilgour, V. & Godfrey, D. G. Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 71, 387–389 (1977).
Miles, M. A. Am. J. trop. Med. Hyg. 25, 671–674 (1976).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
MILES, M., SOUZA, A., POVOA, M. et al. Isozymic heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi in the first autochthonous patients with Chagas' disease in Amazonian Brazil. Nature 272, 819–821 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/272819a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/272819a0
This article is cited by
-
Remarkable genetic diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma rangeli in two localities of southern Ecuador identified via deep sequencing of mini-exon gene amplicons
Parasites & Vectors (2020)
-
Impact of Trypanosoma cruzi on antimicrobial peptide gene expression and activity in the fat body and midgut of Rhodnius prolixus
Parasites & Vectors (2016)
-
LSSP-PCR of Trypanosoma cruzi: how the single primer sequence affects the kDNA signature
BMC Research Notes (2013)
-
Addition of α-O-GlcNAc to threonine residues define the post-translational modification of mucin-like molecules in Trypanosoma cruzi
Glycoconjugate Journal (2013)
-
A genomic scale map of genetic diversity in Trypanosoma cruzi
BMC Genomics (2012)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.