Abstract

We evaluated Trypanosoma cruzi infection rates by means of minicircle DNA-based polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) in 70 starved Mepraia gajardoi from northern Chile and 65 M. spinolai from central Chile after feeding. Immediately after collection in the field, 20% of M. gajardoi were found infected; after feeding, 67% of the uninfected were infected. One group of M. spinolai seemed to be completely uninfected, but after the first and second feedings, 62% and 59% were positive, respectively.