Journal of Medical Entomology (2005) 42, 1068-1081

Jorge López-Cárdenas, Francisco Ernesto Gonzalez Bravo, Paz Maria Salazar Schettino, Juan Carlos Gallaga Solorzano, Ector Ramírez Barba, Joel Martinez Mendez, V. Sánchez-Cordero, A. Townsend Peterson and J.M. Ramsey (2005)
Fine-scale predictions of distributions of Chagas disease vectors in the State of Guanajuato, Mexico
Journal of Medical Entomology 42 (6), 1068-1081
Abstract: One of the most daunting challenges for Chagas disease surveillance and control in Mexico is the lack of community level data on vector distributions. Although many states now have assembled representative domestic triatomine collections, only two triatomine specimens had been collected and reported previously from the state of Guanajuato. Field personnel from the state's Secretaría de Salud conducted health promotion activities in 43 of the 46 counties in the state and received donations of a total of 2,522 triatomine specimens between 1998 and 2002. All specimens were identified, and live insects examined for Trypanosoma cruzi. In an effort to develop fine-scale distributional data for Guanajuato, collection localities were georeferenced and ecological niches were modeled for each species by using evolutionary-computing approaches. Five species were collected: Triatoma mexicana (Herrich-Schaeffer), Triatoma longipennis (Usinger), Triatoma pallidipennis (Stål), Triatoma barberi (Usinger), and Triatoma dimidiata (Latreille) from 201 communities located at elevations of 870-2,200 m. Based on collection success, T. mexicana had the broadest dispersion, although niche mapping indicates that T. barberi represents the greatest risk for transmission of Chagas disease in the state. T. dimidiata was represented in collections by a single adult collected from one village outside the predicted area for all species. For humans, an estimated 3,755,380 individuals are at risk for vector transmission in the state, with an incidence of 3,500 new cases per year; overall seroprevalences of 2.6% indicate that 97,640 individuals are infected with T. cruzi at present, including 29,300 chronic cases.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Víctor Sánchez-Cordero, Janine M. Ramsey, Andrew Townsend Peterson

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Triatoma barberi		Mexico
	Triatoma dimidiata		Mexico
	Meccus pallidipennis		Mexico
	Meccus longipennis		Mexico
	Triatoma mexicana		Mexico