Datasets for: "Identification of the parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, in multiple tissues of epidemiological significance in the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana): Implications for environmental and vertical transmission routes."

<em>Trypanosoma cruzi</em>, a parasitic protozoan, is endemic to the Americas and the causative agent of Chagas disease in humans. In South America, opossums are suspected to facilitate transmission via infected anal gland secretions in addition to transmission via triatomine vectors. In Florida, the Virginia opossum is a known <em>T. cruzi </em>reservoir host and provides the opportunity to model vertical transmission in wildlife because of its unique biology as a marsupial. This study’s objectives were to identify the pathogen prevalence among the sampled Virginia opossums and to investigate alternative routes of transmission that maintain the parasite without the vector. Virginia opossums were sampled at 10 trapping locations over a 10-month period in a 5-county region of north central Florida. Peripheral blood, fecal swabs, and anal gland secretions were collected from each adult individual, and peripheral blood was collected from joey opossums and total DNA was extracted from each collected sample type. Using q-PCR methods <em>T. cruzi</em> infected individuals and the infecting Discrete Typing Unit (DTU) was identified. Adult Virginia opossums (n=112) were infected with <em>T. cruzi</em> (51.8%, 95% CI [42.6 – 60.8%]) throughout the sampled period and at each trapped site. Each of the three collected sample types were infected with <em>T. cruzi</em>. Vertical transmission was also identified in dependent joey opossums (n=73) (2.7%, 95% CI [0.8 – 9.5%]). The infection prevalence associated with vertical transmission is likely amplifying the observed infection prevalence of adult Virginia opossums. Only DTU1 was identified in the sampled population which is the only DTU reported from human autochthonous cases in the United States. The detection of <em>T. cruzi</em> DNA in anal gland secretions is epidemiologically important as it suggests that opossums could play a role in the horizontal transmission of the parasite through the environmental accumulation of anal gland secretion contaminated feces and spraint at wildlife latrines.