Environmental and demographic factors determining the spatial distribution of Triatoma guasayana in peridomestic and semi-sylvatic habitats of rural northwestern Argentina

VAZQUEZ PROKOPEC GM; CECERE MC; KITRON U; GURTLER RE

MEDICAL AND VETERINARY ENTOMOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: St Albans; Año: 2008 p. 273 - 282

0269-283X

Triatoma guasayana (Wygodzinsky & Abalos), a sylvatic vector of Chagas ’disease, occurs in natural and peridomestic habitats of the dry Chaco region of Argentina,Bolivia and Paraguay. Ten-year retrospective spatial analyses of peridomesticT. guasayana abundance in the rural community of Amamá were expanded to the neighbouringcommunity of Trinidad in northwestern Argentina. The distribution ofT. guasayana in domiciles, peridomiciles (storerooms, chicken coops and corrals) andnatural habitats (bromeliads, dry cacti and logs) around houses (i.e. ‘ semi-sylvatic ’ habitats)was analysed. The distribution of the 316 T. guasayana specimens collected indomestic and peridomestic sites during 1993 – 2002 was significantly clustered in bothcommunities. Searches confirmed that the spatial distribution of semi-sylvatic and peridomesticT. guasayana was determined by the joint effects of the local abundance ofgoats and the density of semi-sylvatic habitats. The integration of detailed entomologicaland demographic longitudinal data with geographic information system data, highresolutionsatellite imagery, appropriate spatial and temporal analyses and fieldobservations allowed us to infer the underlying processes determining the distributionof T. guasayana in rural communities. This approach may be applied to other sylvaticand peridomestic vectors of Chagas ’ disease in order to identify high-risk areas for targetedcontrol or environmental management.