Search

Background : Central America is considered a hotspot for Chagas disease transmission and the most important vector in the northern region is Triatoma dimidiata; a native vector adapted to multiple environments, including intra domestic and peri-domestic habitats. Chagas Disease is the leading cause of death associated with heart disease in Latin America, affecting mostly low-resources populations and the presence of the vector is associated to poor house constructions. Methods: A multi-institutional project named “Alliances for the elimination of Chagas in Central America” was created to help reduce the incidence of the disease in the region. Each institution performing specific role including aspects of vector control, quality of housing, surveillance implementation, diagnosis and treatment of individuals, health promotion, and training of human resources. Results: Eleven villages were entomologically evaluated; five villages were found to have high infestation rates (>20%), three had average infestation rates (10-20%) and three had low-infestation rates (Conclusion: Several institutions working together with specific roles promotes the community partition in several activities as vector control and patience attendance. Some epidemiological factor of the native vector was described. Trial registration: The study received clearance from San Carlos University bioethics committee, Guatemala City, Guatemala (AC-010-2018).

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has defined Chagas Disease hotspots in Central America associated with the vector Triatoma spp. Triatoma dimidiata is a native vector adapted to multiple environments, including intra-domestic and peri-domestic habitats. A multi-institutional project named "Alliances for the elimination of Chagas in Central America" was created to help reduce the incidence of the disease in the region. Activities performed in the field as part of the project included aspects of vector surveillance and control, improvement of houses, diagnosis and treatment of individuals, health promotion, training of human resources and identification of access barriers to diagnosis and treatment. As a base line study, eleven villages, comprised of 1,572 households, were entomologically evaluated (83.4% overall participation); five were found to have very high infestation rates (20%), three had high infestation rates (8-20%) and three had low-infestation rates (8%), coinciding with the category of infestation-risk of the houses within each village. Serological tests were carried out in 812 people (80% participation) in two of the 11 villages and none of the 128 children tested, less than 5 years of age, were positive for Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Community participation in all the activities was high (70%). The collaboration between several subnational, national, and international institutions, each with specific roles, promoted community participation in the activities of vector control and patient care, thus, establishing a baseline to continue implementing and monitoring project progress.