Prevalence ofTrypanosoma cruzi-like infection of Colombian bats

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Abstract
Schizotrypanum species were found in 4·68% of 19 885 bats of 118 species collected from 658 localities in Colombia. Among 573 blood cultures used in mouse protection tests, partially in combination with xenodiagnosis, 233 isolates were identified as T. c. cruzi, 25 as T. c. marinkellei and 315 as Schizotrypanum sp. indet. Among the common species of bats, the highest infection with Schizotrypanum spp. was found in Noctilio labialis (50·0%), Artibeus lituratus (48·8%) and Phyllostomus hastatus (39·3%). Five T. c. cruzi isolates from bats became highly virulent to mice after ten to 15 passages through mice or after passages through tissue cultures. Intra-or peri-domiciliary bats were infrequently infected (e.g. Molossus spp., 1·2%; Myotis spp., 1·3%; Carollia perspicillata 1·8%), as were bats that form large colonies in caves (e.g. 0·04% of 7532 bats of the genera Mormoops, Natalus and Pteronotus). Bats were not infected in the areas along the Atlantic coast or above 2200 m altitude. The highest prevalence was found in the virgin tropical rainforest of southern Colombia, where 90·9% of P. hastatus and 49·8% of A. lituratus harboured Schizotrypanum. No correlation was found between feeding preferences of bats and their infection rates with trypanosomes, nor between the occurrence of infected intradomiciliary Rhodnius prolixus and infection rates of bats roosting in human dwellings. In spite of frequent contamination under field conditions, cultivation followed by mouse protection tests is considered the best method for the detection of T. c. cruzi in bats, when more sophisticated biochemical study facilities are not readily available. The frequency of infection in bats indicate that they should not be neglected as a possible reservoir for T. c. cruzi.