Integrated pest management strategies targeting the Florida kissing bug, Triatoma sanguisuga: Preventing this vector of Chagas disease from invading your home

Oral Chagas Disease in Colombia—Confirmed and Suspected Routes of Transmission

“…This scenario may lead to an increased attraction to a human dwelling and the ability for P. geniculatus to invade a home, but more research is needed to better understand the incidence of oral Chagas disease among those with peridomestic invasion of triatomines vectors in Colombia. Ecological and environmental factors associated with increased risk of peridomestic triatomine invasion in Colombia include housing structure(s) within or on the perimeter of the natural wild landscape, domesticated livestock near the home (pigs, chickens, cattle, horses, goats, and sighting of synanthropic mammals), outside lighting with fluorescent bulbs, stone piles, companion animals such as canines or felines living inside or outside inhabitants, lack of screens on windows and doors, home built above ground on stilts and wooden floorboards, debris collected near home serving as a habitat for small rodents and mesomammals such as opossums, and outdoor living areas where food and drink is prepared for consumption [102,103]. Other species, such as T. dimidiata, T. venosa, and P. rufotuberculatus, have also been shown to invade human dwellings in regions of Colombia where vectorial transmission is limited, but increasingly recognized cases of oral transmission have been documented.…”