Periurban Trypanosoma cruzi-infected Triatoma infestans, Arequipa, Peru

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Michael Zachary Levy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Natalie M. Bowman, Asociación Benéfica Proyectos en Informática; Vivian Kawai, Asociación Benéfica Proyectos en Informática; Lance Waller, Emory University; Juan Geny Cornejo del Carpio, Dirección Regional del Ministerio de Salud; Eleazar Cordova Benzaquen, Universidad Nacional San Agustín; Robert H. Gilman, Asociación Benéfica Proyectos en Informática; Caryn Bern, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Language: English
• Date: 2006-09-01
• Publisher: CENTERS DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: 2006 CDC
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1209.051662
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 9
• Start Page: 1345
• End Page: 1352
• Grant/Funding Information: M.Z.L. is supported by a Howard Hughes predoctoral fellowship. N.M.B. was supported by a Fogarty/Ellison fellowship and National Institutes of Health training grant 5T35AI007646-03. Additional support came from National Institutes of Health opportunity grant U19-AI-33061.
• Keywords: DOMESTIC POPULATIONS; Infectious Diseases; REDUVIIDAE; Science & Technology; NORTHWEST ARGENTINA; TRANSMISSION; HOUSEHOLD PREVALENCE; RURAL-COMMUNITY; Immunology; HEMIPTERA; CHAGAS-DISEASE; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; 2ND-ORDER ANALYSIS; DENSITY REGULATION
• Research Categories: Biology, Entomology; Biology, Virology; Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Immunology

Abstract

In Arequipa, Peru, vectorborne transmission of Chagas disease by Triatoma infestans has become an urban problem. We conducted an entomologic survey in a periurban community of Arequipa to identify risk factors for triatomine infestation and determinants of vector population densities. Of 374 households surveyed, triatomines were collected from 194 (52%), and Trypanosoma cruzi-carrying triatomines were collected from 72 (19.3%). Guinea pig pens were more likely than other animal enclosures to be infested and harbored 2.38x as many triatomines. Stacked brick and adobe enclosures were more likely to have triatomines, while wire mesh enclosures were protected against infestation. In human dwellings, only fully stuccoed rooms were protected against infestation. Spatially, households with triatomines were scattered, while households with T. cruzi-infected triatomines were clustered. Keeping small animals in wire mesh cages could facilitate control of T. infestans in this densely populated urban environment.