Congenital Trypanosoma cruzi infection in a laboratory-born squirrel monkey, Saimiri sciureus

A Colombian Phenotype, laboratory-born squirrel monkey, Saimiri sciureus, was found to be congenitally infected with biologically proven Trypanosoma cruzi. The parasite was observed in blood smears and by xenodiagnoses of the mother and the offspring, and the isolates produced infection in mice and amastigotes in VERO tissue culture cells. The finding was accidental; both animals were healthy. Tissues of the mother did not show macro-microscopic evidence of T. cruzi infection and the electrocardiograph of the offspring was normal. This seems to be the first report of congenital T. cruzi transmission in an otherwise healthy non-human primate.