Trypanosoma cruzi

Torhorst, Carson W., Ledger, Kimberly J., White, Zoe S., Milleson, Michael P., Corral, Catalina C., Beatty, Norman L. & Wisely, Samantha M., 2023, Trypanosoma cruzi infection in mammals in Florida: New insight into the transmission of T. cruzi in the southeastern United States, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 21, pp. 237-245 : 241

3.3. Influence of habitat on Trypanosoma cruzi in wildlife

3.3.1. Prevalence in peridomestic vs sylvatic Virginia opossums

In total, 112 adult and subadult Virginia opossums were sampled, and 57 individuals were infected with T. cruzi in north central Florida (50.9%, 95% CI [41.8–60.0%]). Infected opossums were found across the sampled time period and at each of the five paired sites ( Table 2). The infection prevalences for peridomestic (n = 66, 48.5%, 95% CI [36.8–60.3%]) and sylvatic opossums (n = 46, 54.3%, 95% CI [40.2–67.8%]) were not statistically different ( Table 2). In the peridomestic locations, the highest infection prevalence was identified at site 3 (84.6%, 95% CI [57.8–95.7%]), and the lowest prevalence was identified at site 5 (22.2%, 95% CI [9.0–45.2%]) ( Table 2). Across the sylvatic sites, the highest infection prevalence was identified at site 5 (100.0%, 95% CI [56.6–100.0%]) and lowest at site 4 (25.0%, 95% CI [4.6–69.9%]) ( Table 2). The largest difference in the infection prevalence between paired peridomestic and sylvatic sites was identified at site 5 ( Table 2). A Kruskal-Wallis analysis indicated that there was no significant difference in infection prevalence between the species-habitat combinations (χ 2 (3) = 2.33, p =.507) (peridomestic-opossum: mean rank score = 11.3, sylvatic-opossum: mean rank score = 13.3) .