TOXOPLASMOSIS AND CHAGAS DISEASE: REPORT OF SEVERE CASES OF TROOPS IN FRENCH GUIANA AND REVIEW ON FOODBORNE MODE OF TRANSMISSION IN AMAZONIA

In contrast with the usual clinical feature of toxoplasmosis, a cosmopolitan disease, severe cases with visceral disorders have been reported in non-immunocompromised adult patients, particularly in French Guiana. Most of the cases seem to result from the consumption of undercooked game meat or ingestion of non-filtered surface water In Amazonia, a sylvatic cycle of toxoplasmosis involves large felids as definitive hosts and numerous mammals and birds as intermediate hosts. Atypical strains of Toxoplasma gondii, characterized by increased virulence, are involved in these complex cycles. Although Chagas disease, caused by another protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, has been known for a long time, a new foodborne mode of transmission to man seems to emerge. Several outbreaks have been reported, mainly in Brasil, resulting from the contamination of food items by infected Triatominae or their dejections. When food or water are taken from the natural environment, measures have to be implemented in order to prevent these serious diseases.