A key for identifying faecal smears to detect domestic infestations of triatomine bugs.

Early detection o f residualpopulations o f domestic triatomine bugs that survive insecticide treatment is a key component o f successful evaluation and vigilance fo r Chagas disease control. We have recently demonstrated that sheets o f paper, tacked on to the walls o f infested houses, can become streaked with the faeces o f triatomine bugs and thus reveal thepresence o f an infestation. In thispaper, wepresent a simple key to differentiate the faecal streaks o f triatomine bugs from those o f other domestic arthropods such as cockroaches, ticks and cimicid bedbugs.