Domestic animal hosts strongly influence human-feeding rates of the Chagas disease vector Triatoma infestans in Argentina.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The host species composition in a household and their relative availability affect the host-feeding choices of blood-sucking insects and parasite transmission risks. We investigated four hypotheses regarding factors that affect blood-feeding rates, proportion of human-fed bugs (human blood index), and daily human-feeding rates of Triatoma infestans, the main vector of Chagas disease.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey collected triatomines in human sleeping quarters (domiciles) of 49 of 270 rural houses in northwestern Argentina. We developed an improved way of estimating the human-feeding rate of domestic T. infestans populations. We fitted generalized linear mixed-effects models to a global model with six explanatory variables (chicken blood index, dog blood index

SUBMITTER: Gurtler RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4037315 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature