Four adult (3 male, 1 female) captive-raised, descented, striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) were infected experimentally with a field strain (Texas-Tulane) of Trypanosoma cruzi, originally isolated from a naturally-infected dog. Two skunks were injected intravenously with approximately 4.5 × 106 viable T. cruzi trypomastigotes. Two skunks were inoculated per os and per conjunctiuum with 10 ml of phosphate buffered saline containing macerated, T. cruzi -infected triatomine intestines and intestinal contents. The skunks had minimal clinical manifestations with no mortalities occurring during 46 days post-exposure. Sera from all skunks were positive at 24 days post-inoculation (PI) by the direct and latex agglutination tests. Blood cultures from the 4 skunks were positive for T. cruzi at day 24 PI and 3 were positive at day 46 PI. All skunks had mild to moderately severe chronic granulomatous myocarditis of the atria and ventricles. Typical T. cruzi amastigotes were present within myocardial fibers in 3 of 4 skunks.
Author notes
Department of Veterinary Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
Present address: Department of Veterinary Pathology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
Department of Veterinary Pathology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, USA.
Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.