One of the most daunting challenges for Chagas disease surveillance and control in Mexico is the lack of community level data on vector distributions. Although many states now have assembled representative domestic triatomine collections, only two triatomine specimens had been collected and reported previously from the state of Guanajuato. Field personnel from the stateÕs Secretarṍa de Salud conducted health promotion activities in 43 of the 46 counties in the state and received donations of a total of 2,522 triatomine specimens between 1998 and 2002. All specimens were identiÞed, and live insects examined for Trypanosoma cruzi. In an effort to develop Þne-scale distributional data for Guanajuato, collection localities were georeferenced and ecological niches were modeled for each species by using evolutionary-computing approaches. Five species were collected: Triatoma mexicana (Herrich-Schaeffer), Triatoma longipennis (Usinger), Triatoma pallidipennis (Stål), Triatoma barberi (Usinger), and Triatoma dimidiata (Latreille) from 201 communities located at elevations of 870 Ð2,200 m. Based on collection success, T. mexicana had the broadest dispersion, although niche mapping indicates that T. barberi represents the greatest risk for transmission of Chagas disease in the state. T. dimidiata was represented in collections by a single adult collected from one village outside the predicted area for all species. For humans, an estimated 3,755,380 individuals are at risk for vector transmission in the state, with an incidence of 3,500 new cases per year; overall seroprevalences of 2.6% indicate that 97,640 individuals are infected with T. cruzi at present, including 29,300 chronic cases. . Nine of these species are considered as primary vector species (Ramsey et al. 2003), and most belong to two species complexes (phyllosoma and protracta) in the genus Triatoma (Lent and Wygodzinsky 1979). Multiple triatomine species are frequently found within a single region or state in Mexico. As a result, Ͼ71% of the Mexican population is at direct risk of acquiring T. cruzi infections from triatomines, and Ͼ96% of all T. cruzi transmission occurs via these vectors (Ramsey et al. 2003). KEY WORDSOne of the most signiÞcant challenges for Chagas disease surveillance and control in Mexico is the lack of Þne-scale (at the level of local communities) vector distribution data, as well as the almost complete ignorance of the diseaseÐtransmission characteristics and risk areas, both by the public health community and by at-risk populations. With improved malaria control in the country, in the last decade, "additional" operative vector control activities have focused primarily in urban environments owing to increases in classical and hemorrhagic dengue transmission. (To date, vector-borne disease control activities are budgeted only for malaria in the country.) Moreover, the recent decentralization of primary health care services to the state level has emphasized the need and the opportunity to review local and state health care prio...

One of the most daunting challenges for Chagas disease surveillance and control in Mexico is the lack of community level data on vector distributions. Although many states now have assembled representative domestic triatomine collections, only two triatomine specimens had been collected and reported previously from the state of Guanajuato. Field personnel from the stateÕs Secretarṍa de Salud conducted health promotion activities in 43 of the 46 counties in the state and received donations of a total of 2,522 triatomine specimens between 1998 and 2002. All specimens were identiÞed, and live insects examined for Trypanosoma cruzi. In an effort to develop Þne-scale distributional data for Guanajuato, collection localities were georeferenced and ecological niches were modeled for each species by using evolutionary-computing approaches. Five species were collected: Triatoma mexicana (Herrich-Schaeffer), Triatoma longipennis (Usinger), Triatoma pallidipennis (Stål), Triatoma barberi (Usinger), and Triatoma dimidiata (Latreille) from 201 communities located at elevations of 870 Ð2,200 m. Based on collection success, T. mexicana had the broadest dispersion, although niche mapping indicates that T. barberi represents the greatest risk for transmission of Chagas disease in the state. T. dimidiata was represented in collections by a single adult collected from one village outside the predicted area for all species. For humans, an estimated 3,755,380 individuals are at risk for vector transmission in the state, with an incidence of 3,500 new cases per year; overall seroprevalences of 2.6% indicate that 97,640 individuals are infected with T. cruzi at present, including 29,300 chronic cases. . Nine of these species are considered as primary vector species (Ramsey et al. 2003), and most belong to two species complexes (phyllosoma and protracta) in the genus Triatoma (Lent and Wygodzinsky 1979). Multiple triatomine species are frequently found within a single region or state in Mexico. As a result, Ͼ71% of the Mexican population is at direct risk of acquiring T. cruzi infections from triatomines, and Ͼ96% of all T. cruzi transmission occurs via these vectors (Ramsey et al. 2003). KEY WORDSOne of the most signiÞcant challenges for Chagas disease surveillance and control in Mexico is the lack of Þne-scale (at the level of local communities) vector distribution data, as well as the almost complete ignorance of the diseaseÐtransmission characteristics and risk areas, both by the public health community and by at-risk populations. With improved malaria control in the country, in the last decade, "additional" operative vector control activities have focused primarily in urban environments owing to increases in classical and hemorrhagic dengue transmission. (To date, vector-borne disease control activities are budgeted only for malaria in the country.) Moreover, the recent decentralization of primary health care services to the state level has emphasized the need and the opportunity to review local and state health care prio...

A consequence of the late awareness of Chagas disease in North America is that many early studies were never published in peer-reviewed journals and are not easily accessible for inclusion in systematic reviews. We reviewed data from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, as an illustration. Three population-based surveys have been performed between 1991 and 2002 and were never fully published. Systematic reviews should recognize this publication bias.