Infestation of rural houses by Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in southern area of Gran Chaco in Argentina.

The impact of control activities against Triatoma infestans (Klug) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in South America has a marked contrast within and outside the Gran Chaco region. Development of a geographic information system, as part of an improvement in control program activities, allowed analysis of the spatial pattern of house infestations by T. infestans before and after house spraying with deltamethrin in the San Martin Department (an arid Chaco region of central Argentina). The overall peridomestic infestation index decreased from 48.2 to 28.2% after insecticide application. House infestation was spatially clustered in regions with low or high infestation levels that were located east and southwest of the department, respectively. This pattern was detected both before and after the insecticide application. Three environmental variables calculated from a temporal series of MODIS imagery (average of night temperature, maximum of day temperature, and temporal variation of vegetation index) were capable of correctly discriminating 96% of the places belonging to either high or low house infestation observed after the insecticide application.