Socio‐environmental factors associated with the occurrence of triatomines (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in an endemic municipality in northern Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Triatomines are the vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease. The study aimed to evaluate the association between sociodemographic and environmental factors, and changes in land use and cover, with the occurrence and abundance of triatomines by census sectors in an endemic municipality of northern Minas Gerais, Brazil. The study was conducted in Montes Claros, located in the north of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The entomological data used in the study were collected by active surveillance in the rural area from 2015 to 2019 and by passive surveillance in the urban area from 2009 to 2019. Data on sociodemographic and environmental factors and changes in land use and land cover were obtained from the urban and rural census sectors. A total of 1404 triatomines, belonging to eight species, were captured in domiciles in the rural area (2015–2019) and 277 triatomines in domiciles in the urban area (2009–2019) of the municipality of Montes Claros. The variables the number of domiciles, household economic income, pavement, NDVI, deforestation, unchanged, and anthropic proved to be positively associated with the occurrence and/or number of triatomines in census sectors, within the models. The occurrence of triatomines in the domestic environment of the municipality of Montes Claros should be considered a public health problem, as it suggests a potential risk of establishment and transmission of T. cruzi to domestic animals, farm animals, and humans.

Domestic (re)infestation risk with the main vector Triatoma infestans increases with surrounding green vegetation and social vulnerability in the Argentine Chaco

“…Our results showed a positive association between surrounding green vegetation and domestic infestation risk, in agreement with some studies in different settings [ 17 , 18 ]. High vegetation cover may be linked to a greater availability of refuges and hosts for sylvatic triatomine species, depending on the epidemiological scenario [ 18 – 21 ]. In the context of vector control interventions, house spraying with insecticides may trigger triatomine dispersal from the infested house to sylvatic or extra-peridomestic habitats and maintain a latent risk of house (re)infestation from these sources [ 57 ], especially where T. infestans has numerous sylvatic foci as in Bolivia [ 58 ].…”

“…By contrast, Brito et al [ 20 ] found a negative association between house infestation with Rhodnius neglectus and NDVI values adjusted for municipality-level socioeconomic indices in Tocantins, Brazil. Gonçalves et al [ 21 ] revealed that NDVI values adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics at the census tract level were positively related to the occurrence of triatomines in northern Minas Gerais, Brazil. However, the environmental scenarios and the ecological features of the main triatomine vector in the Argentine Chaco, mainly its degree of domiciliation and the virtual absence of sylvatic foci, are different from those addressed in the aforementioned studies.…”