Long-term impact of a ten-year intervention program on human and canine trypanosoma cruzi infection in the argentine chaco

CARDINAL, MARTA VICTORIA; ENRIQUEZ, GUSTAVO FABIÁN; MACCHIAVERNA, NATALIA PAULA; ARGIBAY, HERNÁN DARÍO; FERNÁNDEZ, MARÍA DEL PILAR; ALVEDRO, ALEJANDRA; GASPE, MARÍA SOL; GÜRTLER, RICARDO ESTEBAN

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Public Library of Science

Año: 2021 vol. 15

1935-2727

Background Interruption of domestic vector-borne transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi is still an unmet goal in several American countries. In 2007 we launched a long-term intervention program aimed to suppress house infestation with the main domestic vector in southern South America (Triatoma infestans) and domestic transmission in Pampa del Indio, a resource-constrained, hyperendemic municipality with 1446 rural houses inhabited by Creole and indigenous people, in the Argentine Chaco ecoregion. Here, we assessed whether the 10year insecticide-based program combined with community mobilization blocked vectorborne domestic transmission of T. cruzi to humans and dogs. Methods We carried out two municipality-wide, cross-sectional serosurveys of humans and dogs (considered sentinel animals) during 2016?2017 to compare with baseline data. We used a risk-stratified random sampling design to select 273 study houses; 410 people from 180 households and 492 dogs from 151 houses were examined for antibodies to T. cruzi using at least two serological methods. Results The seroprevalence of T. cruzi in children aged