All that glisters is not gold: sampling-process uncertainty in disease-vector surveys with false-negative and false-positive detections.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Vector-borne diseases are major public health concerns worldwide. For many of them, vector control is still key to primary prevention, with control actions planned and evaluated using vector occurrence records. Yet vectors can be difficult to detect, and vector occurrence indices will be biased whenever spurious detection/non-detection records arise during surveys. Here, we investigate the process of Chagas disease vector detection, assessing the performance of the surveillance method used in most control programs--active triatomine-bug searches by trained health agents.

Methodology/principal findings

Control agents conducted triplicate vector searches in 414 man-made ecotopes of two rural localities. Ecotope-specific 'detection histories' (vectors or their traces

SUBMITTER: Abad-Franch F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4169387 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature