Chagasic Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

T. cruzi exhibits a complex life cycle involving four well-defined developmental stages that interplay into two hosts, the blood-sucking insect vector, and the mammalian host (humans and animals). After already-infected insects feed on the mammalian host, they eliminate in their feces the metacyclic trypomastigotes (parasite infective form), which penetrate the body through the bite-wound, any damaged tissue, or the mucosa from eyes, nose, or even the digestive tract and invade host cells like fibroblasts, macrophages, and epithelial cells at the inoculation site. In the cytoplasm, free-parasites are differentiated into amastigotes (Fig. A B C Fig. 1. (A) Intracellular amastigotes of T. cruzi-infecting Vero cells, (B) Trypomastigotes, and (C) Epimastigotes stained with Giemsa.