Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Leontopithecus rosalia at the reserva biologica de Poco das Antas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Wild golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) - endangered primates th at ar-e native to the BI azilian Atlantic coastal forest - were surveyed fo r the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi with the use of Giemsa-stained blood sm ears, hemocultures and an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFAT). Positiv e IFAT with titers ranging from 1:20 to 1:1280 were observed in 52% of the 118 wild tamarins examined and the parasite was isolated from 38 tamarins. No patent parasitemia was observed among the tamarins front which T. cruzi was isolated. Serum conversion and positive hemoculture was observed for th ree animals that had yielded negative results some months earlier; which in dicates that T. cruzi is actively transmitted among tamarins. in contrast t o observations with other sylvatic isolates, those from the tamar ins were significantly more virulent and most of them produced mortality in experime ntally infected Swiss mice. Some variation irt the kDNA restriction profile s among the isolates was observed. Electrophoresis with GPI, G6PDH, IDH, MD H and ME enzymes showed a Z2 profile.