[Detection of molecular heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi]

Congenital transmission of T. cruzi in Cochabamba affects 6% of newborns from infected mothers. Only limited information is available on the type of transmitted parasites. However, it is well established that T. cruzi isolated from various vectors as well from host animals are highly heterogeneous. In our presentation we analyse aspects of molecular heterogeneity of T. cruzi and we review methods used for the molecular typing of T. cruzi lineages. Experimentally, we performed the PCR amplification of "Sequence-characterised region Markers" for typing T. cruzi isolated from umbilical blood of newborns in Cochabamba. We compared these results with those we obtained from general infected population. All 16 analysed, congenitally infected samples were of lineage IId. Our data also indicated that this lineage was found in about 80% of samples originated from general infected population in Cochabamba.