Blood meal sources of wild and domestic Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in Bolivia: connectivity between cycles of transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chagas disease is a major public health problem in Latin America. Its etiologic agent, Trypanosoma cruzi, is mainly transmitted through the contaminated faeces of blood-sucking insects called triatomines. Triatoma infestans is the main vector in various countries in South America and recently, several foci of wild populations of this species have been described in Bolivia and other countries. These wild populations are suspected of affecting the success of insecticide control campaigns being carried out in South America. To assess the risk that these T. infestans populations pose to human health, it is helpful to determine blood meal sources.

Methods

In the present work, blood meals were identified in various Bolivian wild T. infestans populations and in three spe

SUBMITTER: Buitrago R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4835887 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature