Transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi is crucially dependent on the timing of defaecation by their insect vectors. Experimental studies on Rhodnius prolixus nymphs revealed a negative correlation between blood meal weight and defaecation time. Bugs which fed to repletion defaecated on average 7 min after feeding, whereas bugs with interrupted feeds defaecated about 1 h later. As blood meal weight of triatomine bugs is density-dependent, these results suggest that the greatest risk of successful T. cruzi transmission would occur in recently colonized houses where the bug population is still increasing, or in houses recolonized after a vector control attempt.
Early detection of residual populations of domestic triatomine bugs that survive insecticide treatment is a key component of successful evaluation and vigilance for Chagas disease control. We have recently demonstrated that sheets of paper, tacked on to the walls of infested houses, can become streaked with the faeces of triatomine bugs and thus reveal thepresence of an infestation. In thispaper, wepresent a simple key to differentiate the faecal streaks of triatomine bugs from those of other domestic arthropods such as cockroaches, ticks and cimicid bedbugs.
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