Fig 3. The effect of co-infection of L. i. chagasi and native bacteria.

In vivo co-infection showing the result of the co-infection of L. i. chagasi (initial concentration 4x10⁶ parasites/mL) with all ten bacterial taxa (initial concentration of 10⁸ CFU/mL) isolated from Lu. longipalpis. The midguts individually macerated, and the number of parasites alive counted under a hemocytometer. The groups co-infected with Serratia and Lysinibacillus showed the lowest infection rate (statistically significant differences observed. α = 0.05). Six days post-infection, for all isolates, the number of parasites per midgut was lower than the pre-treated control.