Map showing five main ecosystems in Brazil: light gray, Cerrado, savannah-like; intermediate gray, Inland Atlantic forest; gray, Coastal Atlantic forest; dark gray, Caatinga, dry shrubs; black, Amazon-Tocantins rain-forest. Family pedigrees a-to-e showing intermingling of human populations from the five main ecosystems. Based on their epidemiological histories, families a, b, and c live in the urban Federal District of Brazil, where individuals are not exposed to the insect transmitters of T. cruzi infection. By contrast, country families d and e live in houses infested with the cone-nosed kissing bugs, vectors of T. cruzi infection. The red asterisks indicate family members with chronic T. cruzi infection as detected by ELISA, hemagglutination, and immunofluorescence exams, and by the parasite DNA signature. The red disks indicate individuals showing the parasite DNA signature in absence of anti-T. cruzi antibodies.