Can wild Triatoma infestans foci in Bolivia jeopardize Chagas disease control efforts?

• Published in: Trends in parasitology Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 7 - 10
• Main Authors: Noireau, François, Cortez, Mirko G. Rojas, Monteiro, Fernando A., Jansen, Ana Maria, Torrico, Faustino
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 2005; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal biology; Animals; Biodiversity and Ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Bolivia - epidemiology; Chagas Disease - epidemiology; Chagas Disease - prevention & control; Environmental Sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geography; Human protozoal diseases; Infectious diseases; Insect Control - methods; Insect Vectors - pathogenicity; Insect Vectors - physiology; Insecticides; Invertebrate Zoology; Life Sciences; Medical sciences; Medically important nuisances and vectors, pests of stored products and materials: population survey and control; Parasitic diseases; Population Density; Population Dynamics; Population Surveillance; Protozoal diseases; Reduviidae; South America - epidemiology; Triatoma - pathogenicity; Triatoma - physiology; Triatoma infestans; Trypanosomiasis; Vectors. Intermediate hosts; South America; Bolivia; America; Heteroptera; Infection; Protozoal disease; Triatoma infestans; Arthropoda; Insecta; Parasite; Chagas disease; Parasitosis; Invertebrata; Trypanosomiasis; Reduviidae
• ISSN: 1471-4922; 1471-5007
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2004.10.007

The expected success of Chagas disease control programs in the Southern Cone countries relied on the assumption that Triatoma infestans, the main domestic vector, did not maintain silvatic foci except in the Cochabamba valley in Bolivia. Recent fieldwork revealed that wild populations of this vector are much more widespread throughout Bolivia than previously thought. Therefore, it is important to find out whether these silvatic populations could jeopardize control efforts in Bolivia, and to investigate their possible occurrence in neighboring regions of Paraguay and Argentina.