An empirical model of flight initiation coupled with data from a longitudinal study predicted that the flight dispersal of Triatoma infestans from peridomestic sites was more likely to occur in late summer. To partially test this prediction, we operated 11-12 black light traps from 1945 to 2200 hours in March 2003 in two villages in northern Argentina. All peridomestic sites around the light tr...

Chagas disease is maintained in nature through the interchange of three cycles: the wild, peridomestic and domestic cycles. The wild cycle, which is enzootic, has existed for millions of years maintained between triatomines and wild mammals. Human infection was only detected in mummies from 4,000-9,000 years ago, before the discovery of the disease by Carlos Chagas in 1909. With the beginning o...

Rhodnius ecuadoriensis infests peridomiciles and colonises houses in rural southern Ecuador. Six out of 84 dwellings (7%) surveyed in a rural village were infested (78 bugs/infested domicile; 279 bugs were collected in a single dwelling). Precipitin tests revealed R. ecuadoriensis fed on birds (65%), rodents (31%), marsupials (8%), and humans (15%) - mixed bloodmeals detected in 37.5% of indivi...

background: there has never been a single case report of any parasitic zoono-sis in ile-ife while just a case of human acanthocephalan infection in nigeria is available. methods: fifty (house–rats) rattus rattus (linnaeus, 1758) were caught in houses and raw food sellers’ stalls in a market in ile-ife. a caught rat was removed from the cage and sacrificed by cervical jerking. a rat was weighed,...

Triatoma infestans, the major vector of Chagas disease south of the Amazon in South America, has a large distribution of wild populations, contrary to what has previously been stated. These populations have been suspected of being the source of reinfestation of human habitats and could impede the full success of vector control campaigns. This study examined gene flow between intra-peridomestic ...

BACKGROUND Molecular epidemiology at the community level has an important guiding role in zoonotic disease control programmes where genetic markers are suitably variable to unravel the dynamics of local transmission. We evaluated the molecular diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, in southern Ecuador (Loja Province). This kinetoplastid parasite has traditional...

We assessed the distribution of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in peridomestic triatomines collected manually at a district-wide scale in rural villages around Olta, Western Argentina, and typed the isolated strains according to their pathogenicity to laboratory mice. Of 1623 triatomines examined, only 14 (0.9%) were infected with T. cruzi based on microscopical examination of feces. The prevalenc...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate triatomine colonization in domestic and peridomestic ecotopes and to assess the seroprevalence of Chagas' disease in rural areas. METHODS The study was carried out in the province of General Paz, Corrientes, Argentina. Human dwellings and peridomestic ecotopes were randomly selected. Triatomines were collected using the man/hour/capture method. ...