Molecular detection of Trypanosoma cruzi in acai pulp and sugarcane juice.
Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi affects about 6-8 million people worldwide. Although transmission by triatomine insects has been controlled, other means of transmission maintain the infection. These forms of transmission are responsible for introducing Chagas disease in other non-endemic countries of the world. Thus, Chagas disease, nowadays is a worldwide health problem. In Brazil, acai pulp and sugarcane juice have been associated with Chagas disease outbreaks. The difficulties in isolation of the parasite from foods are hampering source tracking which could allow the confirmation of an implicated food commodity in these outbreak investigations. To address this scientific gap, we evaluated the performance of real-time PCR (qPCR) for detecting T. cruzi in acai pulp and sugarcane juice. All experiments were performed with acai pulp and sugarcane juice samples contaminated with different concentrations of T. cruzi. In assays with qPCR, the results showed that the ideal procedure for T. cruzi identification in acai pulp and sugarcane juice consisted of: i. centrifugation; ii. DNA extraction with a commercial kit for stool matrix; and iii. qPCR using a specific molecular marker for T. cruzi. The seeding in LIT medium of experimentally contaminated foods was effective in detecting the parasitic load by qPCR. The efficacy of qPCR was also verified testing food samples crushed with infected Triatomines. In conclusion, this methodology can be used to perform rapid diagnosis in outbreaks, facilitating measures in disease control.
['Mattos|Elaine Cristina de|EC|', 'Meira-Strejevitch|Cristina da Silva|CDS|', 'Marciano|Maria Aparecida Moraes|MAM|', 'Faccini|Cristiane Castro|CC|', 'Lourenço|Angela Maria|AM|', 'Pereira-Chioccola|Vera Lucia|VL|']
D000818:Animals D001938:Brazil D014355:Chagas Disease D065748:Euterpe D005517:Foodborne Diseases D000067030:Fruit and Vegetable Juices D006801:Humans D059208:Parasite Load D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction D031786:Saccharum D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi
Trypanosoma cruzi Acai pulp Sugarcane juice Outbreaks qPCR