Haematological alterations in non-human hosts infected withTrypanosoma cruzi: a systematic review

Abstract

AbstractAmerican trypanosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease whose spectrum has not been quite understood, including the impact ofTrypanosoma cruziinfection on the haematological parameters of different vertebrate hosts. Thus, this study was designed to compare the pattern of haematological changes induced byT. cruziinfection in order to identify possible species-specific differences among taxons. We also aimed at evaluating the use of this parameter as a tool for diagnosis during the acute phase, when symptoms are usually masked. For this purpose, we performed a systematic search on PubMed and Scopus databases to retrieve original studies published until August 2016. Thirty-one studies were selected using Prisma strategy, which were then submitted to data extraction and methodological bias analysis. Half of the studies showed that the number of erythrogram decreased in infected animals, indicating anaemia. In 68.2% of the studies, the total amount of leukogram values increased, suggesting infection. The main methodological limitations were insufficient information forT. cruzistrains identification, inoculation routes and parasitological characterization. Most of the mammalian species analysed showed the same pattern of haematological changes followingT. cruziinfection, indicating that haematological parameters might direct the diagnosis of Chagas disease in the initial phase.