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,

SUBMITTER: Bustamante Zamora DM 

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

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature