Public Street Lights Increase House Infestation by the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma dimidiata

Pacheco-Tucuch, Freddy; Ramírez-Sierra, María Jesús; Gourbière, Sébastien; Dumonteil, Eric

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036207

Cited by 80 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…8,25,26 The increased use of electrical lighting in rural communities also raises the possibility that the vector may be drawn not only to the village but also to homes when the lights are in use. 9,27,28 Vector survival in peridomestic environments may also be lower than in domestic habitats. The diversity of potential blood meals and microhabitats offering shelter to the vector in peridomestic environments, however, suggest this is unlikely.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecohealth Interventions Limit Triatomine Reinfestation following Insecticide Spraying in La Brea, Guatemala

Lucero¹,

Morrissey²,

Rizzo³

et al. 2013

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Abstract. In this study, we evaluate the effect of participatory Ecohealth interventions on domestic reinfestation of the Chagas disease vector Triatoma dimidiata after village-wide suppression of the vector population using a residual insecticide. The study was conducted in the rural community of La Brea, Guatemala between 2002 and 2009 where vector infestation was analyzed within a spatial data framework based on entomological and socio-economic surveys of homesteads within the village. Participatory interventions focused on community awareness and low-cost home improvements using local materials to limit areas of refuge and alternative blood meals for the vector within the home, and potential shelter for the vector outside the home. As a result, domestic infestation was maintained at 3% and peridomestic infestation at 2% for 5 years beyond the last insecticide spraying, in sharp contrast to the rapid reinfestation experienced in earlier insecticide only interventions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecohealth Interventions Limit Triatomine Reinfestation following Insecticide Spraying in La Brea, Guatemala

Lucero¹,

Morrissey²,

Rizzo³

et al. 2013

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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“…This species as a large geographical distribution, ranging from Ecuador to Southern Mexico [8], and it is the main vector reported in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. While T. dimidiata may colonize houses in other regions, particularly in Central America [9, 10], this species is mostly intrusive in Yucatán: it lives generally in sylvan and peridomestic areas, and frequently enters inside homes, likely attracted by artificial light and potential vertebrate hosts, without establishing colonies [11–13]. Moreover, bugs collected inside homes have a low nutritional status, suggesting that they cannot efficiently feed inside these houses [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleeping habits affect access to host by Chagas disease vector Triatoma dimidiata

et al. 2016

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BackgroundChagas disease, caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is mainly transmitted by blood-sucking bugs called triatomines. In the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, the main vector of T. cruzi is Triatoma dimidiata. While this species may colonize houses in other regions, it is mostly intrusive in Yucatán: it generally lives in sylvan and peridomestic areas, and frequently enters inside homes, likely attracted by potential vertebrate hosts, without establishing colonies. Bugs collected inside homes have a low nutritional status, suggesting that they cannot efficiently feed inside these houses. We hypothesized that this low nutritional status and limited colonization may be associated, at least in part, with the local practice in Mayan communities to sleep in hammocks instead of beds, as this sleeping habit could be an obstacle for triatomines to easily reach human hosts, particularly for nymphal instars which are unable to fly.MethodsWe used an experimental chamber in which we placed a miniature bed in one side and a miniature hammock on the other side. After placing a mouse enclosed in a small cage on the bed and another one in the hammock as baits, T. dimidiata bugs were released in the chamber and their activity was video recorded during the night.Results T. dimidiata adults and nymphs were able to reach the mouse in bed significantly more often than the mouse in hammock (Binomial test, P < 0.0001). Moreover, females reached the mice twice as often as did males. Most of the adult bugs reached the mouse in bed by walking, while they reached the mouse in hammock by flying. Nymphs presented a host-seeking index ten times lower than adult bugs and were also able, on a few occasions (4/132 released bugs), to reach the mouse in hammock.ConclusionsWe conclude that sleeping in hammocks, as done in rural Yucatán, makes human hosts less accessible to the bugs. This, combined with other factors (e.g. absence of domestic animals sleeping inside houses), may explain, at least in part, the low nutritional status of bugs collected inside homes and the limited colonization of houses by T. dimidiata in the region. Nevertheless, while this sleeping habit limits contact with the bugs, it does not confer complete protection as adult bugs as well as some nymphs were still able to reach the host in hammock in our study.

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“…Adult kissing bugs in the Southwest undergo a dispersal flight before the monsoon rains during the hottest days of summer and are attracted to lights near and on houses, 3 which they may enter beneath door thresholds and through window casings and feed on pet and human inhabitants (Figure 1). This occasionally leads to human anaphylaxis 4 or, rarely, infection, in the United States.…”

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confidence: 99%

Free-roaming Kissing Bugs, Vectors of Chagas Disease, Feed Often on Humans in the Southwest

Klotz¹,

Schmidt²,

Dorn³

et al. 2014

The American Journal of Medicine

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BACKGROUND Kissing bugs, vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, are common in the desert Southwest. After a dispersal flight in summer, adult kissing bugs occasionally gain access to houses where they remain feeding on humans and pets. How often wild, free-roaming kissing bugs feed on humans outside their homes has not been studied. This is important because contact of kissing bugs with humans is one means of gauging the risk for acquisition of Chagas disease. METHODS We captured kissing bugs in a zoological park near Tucson, Arizona, where many potential vertebrate hosts are on display, as well as being visited by more than 300,000 humans annually. Cloacal contents of the bugs were investigated for sources of blood meals and infection with T. cruzi. RESULTS Eight of 134 captured bugs were randomly selected and investigated. All 8 (100%) had human blood in their cloacae, and 7 of 8 (88%) had fed on various vertebrates on display or feral in the park. Three bugs (38%) were infected with T. cruzi. Three specimens of the largest species of kissing bug in the United States (Triatoma recurva) were captured in a cave and walking on a road; 2 of 3 (67%) had fed on humans. No T. recurva harbored T. cruzi. CONCLUSIONS This study establishes that free-roaming kissing bugs, given the opportunity, frequently feed on humans outside the confines of their homes in the desert Southwest and that some harbored T. cruzi. This could represent a hitherto unrecognized potential for transmission of Chagas disease in the United States.

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Public Street Lights Increase House Infestation by the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma dimidiata

Cited by 80 publications

References 43 publications

Ecohealth Interventions Limit Triatomine Reinfestation following Insecticide Spraying in La Brea, Guatemala

Ecohealth Interventions Limit Triatomine Reinfestation following Insecticide Spraying in La Brea, Guatemala

Sleeping habits affect access to host by Chagas disease vector Triatoma dimidiata

Free-roaming Kissing Bugs, Vectors of Chagas Disease, Feed Often on Humans in the Southwest

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