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Background: Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease affecting about 10 million people, mostly in the Americas, and transmitted mainly by triatomine bugs. Insect vector control with indoor residual insecticides and the promotion of housing improvement is the main control intervention. The success of such interventions relies on their acceptance and appropriation by communities, which depends on their knowledge and perceptions of both the disease and the vector. In this study, we investigated school-aged children's knowledge and perception on triatomine vectors and Chagas disease to further understand how communities view this vector and the disease in Yucatan, Mexico. Methodology/Principal findings: We performed an analysis of children's drawings on the theme of triatomines and their house in several rural villages, to explore in an open-ended manner their views, understanding and misconceptions. A total of 261 drawings were collected from children ages 6–12 from four villages. We found that children are very familiar with triatomine vectors, and know very well many aspects of their biology and ecology, and in particular their blood-feeding habits. On the other hand, their drawings suggest that the role of triatomines as vectors of a chronic and severe cardiac disease is less understood, and the main perceived health threat appears limited to the bite itself, as previously observed in adults. Conclusions/Significance: These results have important implications for the specific design of future education materials and campaigns, and for the promotion of the inclusion of children in raising Chagas disease awareness in these endemic communities. Author Summary: Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease affecting about 10 million people, mostly in the Americas, and transmitted mainly by triatomine bugs. The elimination of the insect vectors from houses is the main strategy for the prevention of the disease. The success of such interventions relies on their acceptance and appropriation by communities, which depend on their knowledge and perceptions of the disease and the vector. In this study, we performed the first analysis of school-aged children's views of triatomine vectors and Chagas disease in Yucatan, Mexico. We analyzed 261 drawings on the theme of "triatomines and my house" collected in four rural villages. Children appeared very familiar with triatomine vectors, but their role as vectors of a chronic and severe cardiac disease was less understood. These results can help design more specific education materials and campaigns, and promote the inclusion of children in raising Chagas disease awareness in these communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chagas disease is a vector-borne parasitic disease of major public health importance. Current prevention efforts are based on triatomine vector control to reduce transmission to humans. Success of vector control interventions depends on their acceptability and value to affected communities. We aimed to identify opportunities for and barriers to improved vector control strategies in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. Methodology/principal findings: We employed a sequence of qualitative and quantitative research methods to investigate knowledge, attitudes and practices surrounding Chagas disease, triatomines and vector control in three rural communities. Our combined data show that community members are well aware of triatomines and are knowledgeable about their habits. However, most have a limited understanding of the transmission dynamics and clinical manifestations of Chagas disease. While triatomine control is not a priority for community members, they frequently use domestic insecticide products including insecticide spray, mosquito coils and plug-in repellents. Families spend about $32 US per year on these products. Alternative methods such as yard cleaning and window screens are perceived as desirable and potentially more effective. Screens are nonetheless described as unaffordable, in spite of a cost comparable to the average annual spending on insecticide products. Conclusion/Significance: Further education campaigns and possibly financing schemes may lead families to redirect their current vector control spending from insecticide products to window screens. Also, synergism with mosquito control efforts should be further explored to motivate community involvement and ensure sustainability of Chagas disease vector control. Author Summary: Chagas disease is an important parasitic disease transmitted by triatomine bugs. Current prevention efforts are based on eliminating triatomines from homes to reduce disease transmission to humans. However, the success of these control interventions depends on their acceptability and value to affected communities. We aimed to identify opportunities for and barriers to triatomine control strategies in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. We used a sequence of group discussion, interviews, and a survey to investigate the perception and knowledge of communities on Chagas disease and triatomines in three villages from the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. Inhabitants are rather familiar with triatomine bugs, but do not associate well these bugs with Chagas disease and its clinical manifestations. Mosquito rather than triatomine control is a common preoccupation, and households frequently use insecticide spray, mosquito coils and plug-in repellents, spending about $32 US per year on these products. Alternative methods such as yard cleaning and window screens are perceived as desirable and potentially more effective. Screens are nonetheless described as unaffordable. The promotion of education campaigns and possibly financing schemes could help families to redirect their current spending from insecticide products to window screens. Also, synergism with mosquito control efforts should be further explored to motivate community involvement and ensure sustainability of Chagas disease vector control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chagas disease has a major impact on human health in Latin America and is becoming of global concern due to international migrations. Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of the disease, is one of the rare human parasites transmitted by the feces of its vector, as it is unable to reach the salivary gland of the insect. This stercorarian transmission is notoriously poorly understood, despite its crucial role in the ecology and evolution of the pathogen and the disease. The objective of this study was to quantify the probability of T. cruzi vectorial transmission to humans, and to use such an estimate to predict human prevalence from entomological data. We developed several models of T. cruzi transmission to estimate the probability of transmission from vector to host. Using datasets from the literature, we estimated the probability of transmission per contact with an infected triatomine to be 5.8×10−4 (95%CI: [2.6 ; 11.0]×10−4). This estimate was consistent across triatomine species, robust to variations in other parameters, and corresponded to 900–4,000 contacts per case. Our models subsequently allowed predicting human prevalence from vector abundance and infection rate in 7/10 independent datasets covering various triatomine species and epidemiological situations. This low probability of T. cruzi transmission reflected well the complex and unlikely mechanism of transmission via insect feces, and allowed predicting human prevalence from basic entomological data. Although a proof of principle study would now be valuable to validate our models' predictive ability in an even broader range of entomological and ecological settings, our quantitative estimate could allow switching the evaluation of disease risk and vector control program from purely entomological indexes to parasitological measures, as commonly done for other major vector borne diseases. This might lead to different quantitative perspectives as these indexes are well known not to be proportional one to another. Author Summary: Chagas disease is a parasitic disease affecting about 10 million people, often living in poor conditions, and the disease contributes to impede their development. As several other infectious diseases (malaria, dengue or sleeping sickness), it is transmitted by blood-feeding insect vectors. While most other human pathogens are directly injected with the vector's saliva, Chagas disease parasite is transmitted through the insect's feces that are deposited on the skin during bloodmeals, which seems to be a very inefficient process. The probability of such transmission to human has thus been very hard to estimate, although it is crucial to predict where people are at risk and design effective control strategies. Using mathematical models integrating data on vectors and humans collected across Latin America, we estimated that for several vector species transmission occurs in 1 over 900–4000 contacts with infected insects. We further showed that our estimate allows prediction of human infection rates in various ecological conditions. These models will provide health policy makers with improved indexes to better prioritize/evaluate of the outcomes of vector control programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chagas disease is a major neglected tropical disease with deep socio-economical effects throughout Central and South America. Vector control programs have consistently reduced domestic populations of triatomine vectors, but non-domiciliated vectors still have to be controlled efficiently. Designing control strategies targeting these vectors is challenging, as it requires a quantitative description of the spatio-temporal dynamics of village infestation, which can only be gained from combinations of extensive field studies and spatial population dynamic modelling. Methodology/Principal Findings: A spatially explicit population dynamic model was combined with a two-year field study of T. dimidiata infestation dynamics in the village of Teya, Mexico. The parameterized model fitted and predicted accurately both intra-annual variation and the spatial gradient in vector abundance. Five different control strategies were then applied in concentric rings to mimic spatial design targeting the periphery of the village, where vectors were most abundant. Indoor insecticide spraying and insect screens reduced vector abundance by up to 80% (when applied to the whole village), and half of this effect was obtained when control was applied only to the 33% of households closest to the village periphery. Peri-domicile cleaning was able to eliminate up to 60% of the vectors, but at the periphery of the village it has a low effect, as it is ineffective against sylvatic insects. The use of lethal traps and the management of house attractiveness provided similar levels of control. However this required either house attractiveness to be null, or ≥5 lethal traps, at least as attractive as houses, to be installed in each household. Conclusion/Significance: Insecticide and insect screens used in houses at the periphery of the village can contribute to reduce house infestation in more central untreated zones. However, this beneficial effect remains insufficient to allow for a unique spatially targeted strategy to offer protection to all households. Most efficiently, control should combine the use of insect screens in outer zones to reduce infestation by both sylvatic and peri-domiciliated vectors, and cleaning of peri-domicile in the centre of the village where sylvatic vectors are absent. The design of such spatially mixed strategies of control offers a promising avenue to reduce the economic cost associated with the control of non-domiciliated vectors. Author Summary: Chagas disease is one of the most important parasitic diseases in Latin America. Since the 1980's, many national and international initiatives have contributed to eliminate vectors developing inside human domiciles. Today's challenge is to control vectors that are non-adapted to the human domicile, but still able to transmit the parasite through regular short stay in the houses. Here, we assess the potential of different control strategies applied in specific spatial patterns using a mathematical model that reproduces the dynamic of dispersion of such 'non-domiciliated' vectors within a village of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. We show that no single strategy applied in the periphery of the village, where the insects are more abundant, provides satisfying protection to the whole village. However, combining the use of insect screens in houses at the periphery of the village (to simultaneously fight insects dispersing from the garden and the forest), and the cleaning of the peri-domicile areas of the centre of the village (where sylvatic insects are absent), would provide a cost-effective control. This type of spatially mixed strategy offers a promising way to reduce the cost associated with the repeated interventions required to control non-domiciliated vectors that permanently attempt to infest houses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]