Dataset Information

Information to act: household characteristics are predictors of domestic infestation with the Chagas vector Triatoma dimidiata in Central America.

ABSTRACT: The interruption of vectorial transmission of Chagas disease by Triatoma dimidiata in central America is a public health challenge that cannot be resolved by insecticide application alone. In this study, we collected information on previously known household risk factors for infestation in 11 villages and more than 2,000 houses in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and we constructed multivariate models and used multimodel inference to evaluate their importance as predictors of infestation in the region. The models had moderate ability to predict infested houses (sensitivity, 0.32-0.54) and excellent ability to predict noninfested houses (specificity higher than 0.90). Predictive ability was improved by including random village effects and presence of signs of infestation (insect feces, eggs, and exuviae) as fixed effects. Multimodel inference results varied depending on factors included, but house wall materials (adobe, bajareque, and palopique) and signs of infestation were among the most important predictive factors. Reduced models were not supported suggesting that all factors contributed to predictions. Previous knowledge and information from this study show that we have evidence to prioritize rural households for improvement to prevent house infestation with Triatoma dimidiata in Central America. House improvement will most likely have other health co-benefits.

SUBMITTER: Bustamante Zamora DM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4497913 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Information to act: household characteristics are predictors of domestic infestation with the Chagas vector Triatoma dimidiata in Central America.

Bustamante Zamora Dulce María DM Hernández Marianela Menes MM Torres Nuria N Zúniga Concepción C Sosa Wilfredo W de Abrego Vianney V Monroy Escobar María Carlota MC

The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 20150413 1

The interruption of vectorial transmission of Chagas disease by Triatoma dimidiata in central America is a public health challenge that cannot be resolved by insecticide application alone. In this study, we collected information on previously known household risk factors for infestation in 11 villages and more than 2,000 houses in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and we constructed multivariate models and used multimodel inference to evaluate their importance as predictors of infestation in ...[more]

PMID: 25870430

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Project description:Among Chagas disease triatomine vectors, the largest genus, Triatoma, includes species of high public health interest. Triatoma dimidiata, the main vector throughout Central America and up to Ecuador, presents extensive phenotypic, genotypic, and behavioral diversity in sylvatic, peridomestic and domestic habitats, and non-domiciliated populations acting as reinfestation sources. DNA sequence analyses, phylogenetic reconstruction methods, and genetic variation approaches are combined to investigate the haplotype profiling, genetic polymorphism, phylogeography, and evolutionary trends of T. dimidiata and its closest relatives within Triatoma. This is the largest interpopulational analysis performed on a triatomine species so far.Triatomines from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil were used. Triatoma dimidiata populations follow different evolutionary divergences in which geographical isolation appears to have had an important influence. A southern Mexican-northern Guatemalan ancestral form gave rise to two main clades. One clade remained confined to the Yucatan peninsula and northern parts of Chiapas State, Guatemala, and Honduras, with extant descendants deserving specific status. Within the second clade, extant subspecies diversity was shaped by adaptive radiation derived from Guatemalan ancestral populations. Central American populations correspond to subspecies T. d. dimidiata. A southern spread into Panama and Colombia gave the T. d. capitata forms, and a northwestern spread rising from Guatemala into Mexico gave the T. d. maculipennis forms. Triatoma hegneri appears as a subspecific insular form.The comparison with very numerous Triatoma species allows us to reach highly supported conclusions not only about T. dimidiata, but also on different, important Triatoma species groupings and their evolution. The very large intraspecific genetic variability found in T. dimidiata sensu lato has never been detected in a triatomine species before. The distinction between the five different taxa furnishes a new frame for future analyses of the different vector transmission capacities and epidemiological characteristics of Chagas disease. Results indicate that T. dimidiata will offer problems for control, although dwelling insecticide spraying might be successful against introduced populations in Ecuador.

Project description:BackgroundChagas disease is a major neglected tropical disease with deep socio-economical effects throughout Central and South America. Vector control programs have consistently reduced domestic populations of triatomine vectors, but non-domiciliated vectors still have to be controlled efficiently. Designing control strategies targeting these vectors is challenging, as it requires a quantitative description of the spatio-temporal dynamics of village infestation, which can only be gained from combinations of extensive field studies and spatial population dynamic modelling.Methodology/principal findingsA spatially explicit population dynamic model was combined with a two-year field study of T. dimidiata infestation dynamics in the village of Teya, Mexico. The parameterized model fitted and predicted accurately both intra-annual variation and the spatial gradient in vector abundance. Five different control strategies were then applied in concentric rings to mimic spatial design targeting the periphery of the village, where vectors were most abundant. Indoor insecticide spraying and insect screens reduced vector abundance by up to 80% (when applied to the whole village), and half of this effect was obtained when control was applied only to the 33% of households closest to the village periphery. Peri-domicile cleaning was able to eliminate up to 60% of the vectors, but at the periphery of the village it has a low effect, as it is ineffective against sylvatic insects. The use of lethal traps and the management of house attractiveness provided similar levels of control. However this required either house attractiveness to be null, or ? 5 lethal traps, at least as attractive as houses, to be installed in each household.Conclusion/significanceInsecticide and insect screens used in houses at the periphery of the village can contribute to reduce house infestation in more central untreated zones. However, this beneficial effect remains insufficient to allow for a unique spatially targeted strategy to offer protection to all households. Most efficiently, control should combine the use of insect screens in outer zones to reduce infestation by both sylvatic and peri-domiciliated vectors, and cleaning of peri-domicile in the centre of the village where sylvatic vectors are absent. The design of such spatially mixed strategies of control offers a promising avenue to reduce the economic cost associated with the control of non-domiciliated vectors.

Dataset Information

Information to act: household characteristics are predictors of domestic infestation with the Chagas vector Triatoma dimidiata in Central America.

Publications

Information to act: household characteristics are predictors of domestic infestation with the Chagas vector Triatoma dimidiata in Central America.

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