Captions:
Sofia Ocana, a researcher with the Tropical Disease Research Program, carefully holds a container of chinchurros (the vector for Chagas Disease) that will be studied and analyzed in the field lab in Cariamanga to determine if they carry the parasite T. Cruzi.
The Tropical Disease Research Program team also studied mammals this summer to determine if they carried the parasite that can lead to Chagas Disease, as well. Traps were set to catch bats and squirrels in an area where chinchurros carrying the parasite T. Cruzi are known to live. Blood samples were drawn and tissue samples were analyzed in the field before being sent to a laboratory in Quito for further analysis.
Chinchurros found in neighboring rural communities were dissected in the lab in Cariamanga to determine if families living in those communities might have been exposed to Chagas Disease.
(NEXT 3 IMAGES) The construction crew, TDI participants, and community members have all worked together to make significant progress on the community center in Bella Maria, which is expected to be completed in August.
(NEXT 2 IMAGES) In addition to the community center in Bella Maria, TDI is also overseeing the construction of a prototype house in Guara. The process of making the adobe bricks for the house is now underway. Children from the community (when they are on breaks from the nearby school), the architecture team from PUCE, a small hired crew, and the family who will move into the house are working to make the 3,000 bricks necessary to build the structure.
Day one: two hundred thirty-six large adobe bricks.
In order to protect the fragile adobe bricks from wandering animals during the drying process, a giant corral was built with tarp and wooden poles.
The communication team for the Tropical Disease Research Program summited Ahuaca to capture June’s super moon. In this photographer’s eyes, the experience will be imprinted on my heart for always.
June’s super moon.
Goodnight, Cariamanga.
