Invasion of rural houses by wild Triatominae in the arid Chaco

CAVALLO MARIA JOSE; AMELOTTI IVANA; GORLA DAVID ELADIO

JOURNAL OF VECTOR ECOLOGY

SOC VECTOR ECOLOGY

Lugar: Idaho, EEUU; Año: 2016 vol. 4 p. 97 - 102

1081-1710

Triatomines are the vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent ofChagas disease, the main endemic disease affecting 5-7 million people in Latin America.Besides Triatoma infestans, the most important T. cruzi vector in the Gran Chaco region,other triatomine species associated with sylvatic birds and mammals are responsible for themaintenance of the wild cycle of T. cruzi. The present study aimed at evaluating the houseinvasion by sylvatic triatomine species in rural communities of the Los Llanos region (LaRioja, Argentina), and its association with environmental variables. House invasion byflying adult triatomines was recorded by an appropriately trained community, whichcollected over 377 houses distributed over 73 localities of a 56600 km2 study region,between October 2014 and February 2015. The result of the study showed that houseinvasion by adult triatomines is highly frequent: 26.3% houses were infested in 53% of thelocalities. Seven sylvatic triatomine species were collected, being T. guasayana and T.garciabesi the most abundant ones. House invasion by triatomine species showed no spatialaggregation and was not associated with temperature, precipitation or vegetation cover atthe spatial scale considered in the present study. House invasion by triatomines highlyconcerns the rural communities that frequently confound them with the epidemiologicallyimportant T. infestans. Besides constituting a latent risk (although low), the presence ofthese species interferes negatively with the vigilance activities of the provincial program ofChagas disease.